Jeane Napoles' Ritz Carlton unit up for sale

Condominium being sold for $1.475 million

LOS ANGELES - A controversial condominium unit in a downtown Los Angeles high rise, owned by one of the children of a businesswoman embroiled in the P10-billion pork barrel scam in the Philippines, is on the market.

Several realty websites show that the home of Jeane Napoles, the daughter of Janet Lim Napoles, at the Ritz Carlton is up for sale.

The listing was posted on several American realty websites on September 23.

The 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit which covers over 1500 square feet is being listed at the price of $1.475 million.

Price per square feet is at $934.14.

According to public realty records, the unit was purchased under Jeane C Napoles' name in July of 2011 for $1.28 million.

Sources from the Ritz Carlton told Balitang America that a Napoles employee was seen moving bags of Jeane's belongings days before the August 26 anti-pork barrel protest.

Dozens of Filipino-Americans protested outside of the Ritz Carlton on August 26 during a global day of action against the pork barrel system.

A record search of the three other Southern California Napoles-linked properties shows that none of them are up for sale.

A Balitang America report earlier listed several US properties owned by the Napoles family.

These include the Anaheim Express Inn valued at about $7 million, a $1.4 million home in the affluent Canyon View gated community in Irvine and a commercial property in the Los Angeles County City of Covina.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

BIR: Many reported Napoles properties not in their name

MANILA, Philippines - "Many" of the properties and assets of detained businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles and her family reported in the media turned out to be not under their names, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares said on Thursday.

However, the BIR is still pursuing its investigation into these properties and assets.

Henares said that apart from the bureau's primary concern which is to determine if there was any evasion of payment of taxes on these properties, the possibility that dummies may have been used by the Napoleses cannot be ruled out.

"Marami [properties] hindi nag-match. We're trying to find out sino ba mga may-ari nito, kung kaya ba ng income nila, kung nagbayad ba sila ng taxes... I'm not saying magnanakaw siya (Napoles), pero kung gagawa ako ng isang [illegal] bagay, siyempre I will hide my tracks. Maaring natago niya pero sa kayabangan nila, kaya lumalabas," Henares said.

Properties named after Napoles' minor and legal age children are also part of the BIR probe, she said.

"If not of age, [properties] must be a donation. So nagbayad ba ng donor's tax? If of age, then it must be income. Kaya ba ng income o may hindi naireport?" Henares said.

Properties allegedly inherited by Napoles, the alleged multi-billion peso pork barrel scam architect, will also be checked for proper payment of inheritance taxes, as well as the family's properties abroad.

In short, there will be a cross-matching of these assets and properties, payment of taxes, and declared income, Henares clarified.

Letters of Authority have been sent out to the Napoleses in connection with the BIR's probe.

The BIR is also coordinating with other government agencies in zeroing in on all the family's assets.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com