MANILA - Businesswoman Janet Napoles will reveal what she knows about the misuse of the pork funds only at the right venue – which is not the Senate.
On Thursday, her lawyer Lorna Kapunan told dzMM, “At the appropriate time and appropriate venue, she will talk.”
She said the Senate is not the appropriate venue because of the agenda of some senators in using the hearings as a political platform.
Napoles has been subpoenaed to the November 7 hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on the pork barrel scam.
What will happen at the Senate is a media spectacle where the public will be allowed to see who has the dirtiest linen, she said.
“[Any] confrontation is good for the media. It will not help us in getting closer to a conviction [of the guilty].”
Besides, the Senate will not even be able to give Napoles immunity from suit despite assurances from some senators.
“[An] immunity given by the Senate does not prevent criminal culpability because only a court of law such as the Sandiganbayan or Ombudsman [can provide such],” she said.
She said she and her team gave Napoles her legal options, including invoking the “right to remain silent” and the “right against self-incrimination”.
She said no one “can waive those rights except [Napoles].”
“She was the one who said she doesn’t want to go [to the Senate],” she said. And even with a subpoena, the Senate will have to ask the Makati judge to secure her, Kapunan added.
She said at the right time and place, Napoles will “confirm the belief of the people that the PDAF [Priority Development Assistance Fund] has been abused by public officials, even down to the mayors.”
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
