• 5 years ago
MANILA - Whistle-blower Benhur Luy on Thursday said his falling out with businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles started after the latter suspected that he was transacting with lawmakers on his own. In his testimony, Luy said the rift began when he told Napoles in December 19, 2012 that distribution of Department of Agriculture goods including sprayers and fertilizers by his foundation was not yet finished. He told Napoles he could not contact the representative of the lawmaker whose priority development fund was used to fund the project. Napoles, however, checked Luy's cell phone and compared the phone number of the representative with that found in the cell phone of Luy's co-worker. Luy said Napoles got mad when she found out that he had been texting some of the chiefs of staffs of lawmakers to follow up some documents. "Nagduda na si Mrs. Napoles dahil akala niya nag ta-transact. Minura niya na ako at pinagalitan," he said. He said that prior to the incident, he and Napoles had also been fighting about the reports of the foundations. Luy said Napoles' brother, Reynald, asked Napoles not to detain him since he knew too much. He said he does not know if Napoles had a "padrino" or coddler who was instructing her about how to conduct the scam. ANC, September 12, 2013