Businesswoman surrenders over corruption scandal
Print Edition
A WEALTHY businesswoman at the center of a corruption scandal has surrendered to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III three days after a large protest in Manila to condemn large-scale graft allegations in a country long mired in poverty.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said he fetched Janet Lim-Napoles, accompanied by her lawyer, late on Wednesday in a cemetery. She was then brought to the Malacanang presidential palace to briefly meet Aquino before she was turned over to police. Her lawyer said she had received death threats and wanted to be assured of her safety.
Napoles has been accused of illegally detaining a former aide who accused her of stealing huge amounts of government development funds, derisively called pork-barrel funds, in conspiracy with powerful lawmakers. She has denied any wrongdoing but was ordered arrested by authorities, with Aquino announcing a 10 million peso (US$227,000) bounty for her capture.
Philippine media reports of her lavish lifestyle, including the alleged ownership of an array of elegant houses and condominiums, have angered many Filipinos in a country where nearly a third of the 97 million people live on a little over one US dollar a day and about a tenth have left the country in search of jobs and better opportunities abroad.
Amid outrage expressed on social media, tens of thousands gathered at Manila’s Rizal Park on Monday to demand the scrapping of the corruption-tainted development fund and called on Aquino to crack down harder on corruption. Aquino, son of revered pro-democracy champions, rose to power in 2010.
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