Judgment must first be rendered on all of the cases Janet Lim Napoles is facing in the Philippines before she can be extradited to the United States to face money laundering charges.
This was announced by Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang yesterday as she stressed the need for Napoles to be under Philippine jurisdiction during the pendency of her three plunder and numerous graft and corruption cases.
“Once a court acquires jurisdiction over a case, it continues to do so until the termination of the case. This includes jurisdiction over the person of the accused in a criminal case,” Cabotaje-Tang said.
Legal experts say that Napoles can only be extradited to the US if and when she is found not guilty in all the charges. In the event of her being found guilty, she will first have to serve her sentence before she is extradited.
Napoles is facing trial for plunder in connection with the alleged diversion of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of several lawmakers.
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A US federal grand jury has indicted Napoles and some of her family members for conspiracy to commit domestic and international money laundering.
The US Justice Department said some $20 million were diverted to money remitters in the Philippines and then wired to Southern California bank accounts.
The money, according to the report, was used to purchase real estate, shares in two businesses and two Porsche Boxsters, as well as to finance the living expenses of three family members in the US, Jeane Napoles and the Lims.
She was tagged as the mastermind behind the pork barrel scam where the discretionary funds of lawmakers were allegedly diverted to bogus non-government organizations.
An audit discovered the fraud in September 2012.Napoles was arrested in August 2013 and her family’s bank accounts were frozen in the Philippines.
“Napoles and her family then attempted to quietly liquidate the assets in the US, secretly repatriate most of the resulting funds back to the Philippines and to other accounts in the US and United Kingdom, and disburse some of the funds to Jeane Napoles, who used the money to finance her lifestyle and open a fashion business,” said the US.
