Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the government may need help from the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) as six of the 35 people on the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) lookout list have already left the Philippines.
The 35, along with three senators, are charged with plunder and malversation of funds in connection with the Php10 billion pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by Filipino businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.
Sec. de Lima has conceded that the government can do nothing at the moment to force the accused to come back as there is no case yet before a court.
She said the most they can do is coordinate with agencies like Interpol to monitor the whereabouts of the accused.
“As to whether there’s recourse to compel them to come back, I’m very sorry, no such recourse,” she said.
Sec. de Lima cited their flight could indicate a sense of guilt.
“On the psychological side of things, if they are starting to leave (the country), isn’t that an indication that they are at fault?” she asked.
She said if these individuals do not come back, the government can pursue extradition and use mutual legal assistance treaties only when they are convicted.
The BI placed 35 of the 38 accused by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on a lookout list should they attempt to leave the country.
The senators charged with the same have not been placed on the list as a sign of respect for a co-equal branch of government, according to the BI.
The NBI forwarded the names of 38 people to the Ombudsman, recommending their prosecution in connection to the scam.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said her office may arrive to a conclusion sooner than expected.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), I had a field day going over the first batch of documentary evidence submitted by the NBIand I assure you, you’ll be in for a surprise, it’s going to take much less (time),” she said.
She had earlier said that evaluation of evidence submitted by the NBI may take a year, but realized the wait may not be as long after reading the documents herself.
Sec. de Lima expressed hope that the Ombudsman will find probable cause to file cases against the respondents to the Sandiganbayan, the Philippine anti-graft court.
“There are evidence, there are affidavits, there are tons of documentary evidence and in the eyes of the NBI, they are sufficient but there are standards that the Ombudsman needs to examine in terms of determining a probable cause,” she explained in Tagalog.
The scam involves the alleged misuse of lawmakers’ pork barrels, formally called the Priority Development Assistance Fund, allocated to various bogus non-government organizations connected to Napoles.
(with reports from abs-cbnnews.com and inquirer.net)