Court: Bare Luy’s bank, property, travel records

MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division denied with finality the attempt of pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy to set aside the court-ordered disclosure of his bank, property and travel records.

The 27-page resolution released Tuesday, October 28, allows the court to look into not just the present cash value in Luy’s bank accounts earlier disclosed and preserved by a Manila trial court, but the accounts’ history of deposits and withdrawals.

Luy’s lawyer, Raji Mendoza, said they will appeal the ruling. He said they have yet to receive a copy of the resolution.

The bank transactions history will be analyzed by the camp of Luy’s former boss Janet Lim-Napoles to prove that he pocketed the bulk of the money from the pork barrel scam, a scheme that channeled lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to ghost projects of Napoles’ bogus non-governmental organizations. (READ: Napoles camp bent on exposing Luy’s wealth)

The subpoena was requested by Napoles, who maintains that the whistleblowers operated the scheme without her knowledge. 

The subpoena also covered the bank records of state witnesses Marina Sula and Merlina Suñas. Both have testified before the Sandiganbayan’s First Division that Napoles is the scam’s mastermind.

Records of the 3 witnesses’ real properties, motor vehicles, and travels abroad to be sourced from the Land Registration Authority, the Land Transportation Office, and the Bureau of Immigration, respectively, will also be bared in court.

Luy’s bank history was a matter other Sandiganbayan divisions regarded as irrelevant to the PDAF cases. (READ: Court blocks opening of Luy’s bank accounts)

Luy’s revelation as a key state witness in the massive PDAF scandal resulted so far in 3 cases of plunder and 42 cases of graft pending before the Sandiganbayan against Napoles.

For receiving kickbacks from Napoles, opposition senators Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr are the primary accused in these cases.

Relevance

Ombudsman prosecutors and Luy’s private lawyers had insisted that Luy’s assets or lack thereof cannot be the subject matter of litigation, as he is not the accused in the PDAF cases.

In assailing the subpoena, they cited Luy’s privacy rights and the bank secrecy law which grants protection to bank clients like him.

The 5th division justices, however, found relevance in the records sought by Napoles. The division resolved that Luy’s accounts fall under the exemptions to the bank secrecy law.

The subject matter of the case cannot be limited to accounts of those accused but includes “those accounts to which the money purportedly acquired illegally or a portion thereof was alleged to have been transferred,” read the resolution penned by Justice Roland Jurado, chairman of the 5th division.

“We agree the depositors-witnesses are not accused in the instant case. We, however, find that the monies of the depositors-witnesses in the bank accounts subject of the subpoena can be considered as a subject matter of the litigation,” the resolution read further.

The sought-after bank accounts are already the subject matter of a forfeiture case before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 22. 

If found liable of having sourced the monies from the PDAF scam, these accounts and subject assets of Luy will be permanently seized by the state.

Napoles, Enrile’s former aide Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, and Estrada’s former aide Pauline Labayen also face forfeiture cases before the same court. – Rappler.com