SC junks plea of fugitive Napoles brother

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court denied the appeal of Reynald “Jojo” Lim, brother of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles, to recall the arrest warrant issued against him by a lower court.

Lim, along with Napoles, is facing charges of serious illegal detention before Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 for allegedly detaining Napoles’ former employee and now pork barrel scam state witness Benhur Luy.

In a resolution made public on Friday, November 7, the High Court’s 1st division dismissed Lim’s allegation that Makati Judge Elmo Alameda “acted with inordinate haste” in ordering his arrest.

“It is evident from the Order of Judge Alameda that the finding of probable cause was issued only after he reviewed the proceedings before the prosecutor and after he examined the documents presented,” the resolution read.

The SC also found Lim’s motion for judicial determination of probable cause a “mere superfluity” since Alameda is required anyway by law to personally evaluate the resolution of the public prosecutor and the supporting documents.

The Makati court ordered in August 2013 the arrest of Napoles and Lim over charges they illegally detained Luy. Napoles surrendered days after, but Lim remained a fugitive.

Lim earlier filed petitions with both the Court of Appeals (CA) and the Makati RTC, asking for all legal and government actions against him to be suspended. Both petitions were denied.

Lim and Napoles have both argued that Luy was on a spiritual retreat at the time of the alleged detention, from December 2012 to March 2013. Luy was rescued by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation from Napoles’ unit at the Pacific Plaza Tower in Taguig City.

Apart from the illegal detention case, Lim was also dragged into the graft case against Napoles in a relation to ghost deliveries of Kevlar helmets to the military. – Rappler.com