MANILA – One of the lawyers of Janet Lim-Napoles on Wednesday defended her client's daughter, Jeane, who has received flak for flaunting her lavish lifestyle on social media.
In an interview with radio DZMM, Atty. Lorna Kapunan, said Napoles' family is well-off because of their businesses abroad.
She said everyone should be proud of people like Jeane who excel in school.
Kapunan said she would also give expensive gifts to her children if they excel in school and if she had a lot of money from legitimate sources of income.
“I always say when I am asked, kung mayroon akong kayamanan ng kaunti at nakapag-magna cum laude ang aking anak sa isang US university, bibigyan ko din siya ng Porsche, bibigyan ko din siya ng Chanel kung afford ko. The bottom line is, afford nila. It is not ill-gotten wealth, they do not have a single contract with government. They have not owned a single peso from any of these public funds. They have their own money that they gave to their child who instead of persecuting, we should be proud of,” she said.
Napoles has admitted to giving her daughter a luxury sports car, Porsche, after she graduated magna cum laude.
Kapunan targets whistleblowers
Meantime, Kapunan said they plan to file charges against people who have implicated Janet Lim-Napoles in the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam.
She expressed dismay on how her client is being accused by the whistleblowers allegedly without producing sufficient evidence.
“Lahat na lumalabas ngayon na whistleblower, mayroon silang convenient na excuse. Everybody now is blaming Mrs. Napoles,” Kapunan told dzMM.
Kapunan criticized Merlina Suñas, who recently surfaced and linked Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to the dummy non-government organizations (NGOs) allegedly formed by Napoles.
“She admitted that she was the one who formed all of these companies. She was the one dealing with the Department of Agriculture, nagbigay pa siya ng specific amount, and yet bakit tayo naniniwala sa kanya? When she says that without evidence, she acted daw under the instruction of Mrs. Napoles and all the money went to Mrs. Napoles. Mrs. Napoles is now being blamed for everything,” said Kapunan.
She also lashed out at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for taking into custody Napoles’ former employee Benhur Luy, and not including their camp in the investigation.
“Kung ayaw kami imbitahin ng NBI, kami na ang magfa-file ng kaso, a case for perjury, falsification, and plunder, against all these whistleblowers who have not presented any single document or piece of evidence showing the name of Mrs. Napoles," she said.
“Where is the evidence? Kaya kami na po ang magfa-file so that they will present whatever evidence they have before the proper forum, huwag judgment by the media. If they are able to produce any evidence at all that Mrs. Napoles engineered this and that she received and misused public funds, I will be the first to file a case against her,” she added.
According to Kapunan, they will also present evidence to authorities showing that Napoles’ driver, John Raymond de Asis, was forced by Luy to sign documents aimed at incriminating Napoles.
“The evidence that we have is a testimony under oath by the driver of Mrs. Napoles who finally comes forward and says, ‘Ginamit po ako ni Benhur, pinapirma pa ako ng dokumento, ang sabi niya para sa tulong ito para sa nangangailangan’…We will file against these people so that the evidence will come out because hindi pwede ‘yung all the written evidence shows her innocence and yet she is convicted by hearsay,” said Kapunan.