By JAKE C. SORIANO
GMA News Research
GMA News Research
“Ironically, their business started sa pork: baboy, baka, manok. Ironic that now, she is blamed for everything,” lawyer Lorna Kapunan said in a television interview this week to explain the wealth of her client, embattled businesswomen Janet Lim-Napoles.
She said Napoles, who has been implicated in a P10-billion pork barrel scam, inherited “a small fortune” from her mother and invested it in a business venture. “Trading na ang company niya. The name here is JLN,” Kapunan told GMA’s News To Go host Howie Severino last Tuesday.
Government records show that JLN Corporation was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1999 to engage in the business of trading marine supplies and construction materials. With a P5-million capital stock, the company lists Janet Napoles as one of its five incorporators and her husband, former military officer Jaime Napoles, as the company’s board chair.
It is the same company that whistle-blower Bernard Luy, a cousin of Napoles and former employee of the firm, has implicated in anomalies involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel, of several lawmakers. The National Bureau of Investigation is looking into Luy’s claim that the company was tapped as a conduit for funds allocated to government projects that turned out to be non-existent.
On paper, JLN Corporation appears to have hit the jackpot in the last two years or so, with its total assets in 2012 soaring to P92 million from P28.67 million in 2011. Based on available records at the SEC, the company’s total equity also increased dramatically, from only P5.6 million the previous year to P33.66 million last year.
Another Napoles company, JCLN Global Properties Development Corporation, registered an even bigger spike in 2012. The total declared assets of the real estate company, whose president and board chair is Janet’s son James Christopher, amounted to P180.69 million last year, more than eight times the amount in the previous year which was only valued at P21.04 million.
The acquisition of land and buildings accounted for the sudden increase in the company’s fixed assets, based on its 2013 general information sheet (GIS). During the same period, JCLN Global’s total stockholder’s equity also jumped significantly, from only P10.87 million to P94.31 million.
9 out of 24 companies non-operational
But the good fortune of the Napoles family appears to be limited to the two companies. Their other business ventures were not as lucky last year, based on their corporate records filed with the SEC.
Aside from Janet and her husband, their children Jo Christine, James Christopher, and Jeane are involved in at least 24 stock corporations, most of which are less than a decade old.
In what seems to be a flurry of corporate activity, half of the companies were only created starting in 2010. Based on SEC records, the family appears to be engaged in a wide variety of businesses — from trading and lending to mining and quarrying, food, parking management, and even publishing and travel services.
Last year, however, nine of the 24 Napoles companies submitted affidavits of non-operation. Three other companies did the same early in their corporate existence but one of them, JCLN Global Properties, appears to have bounced back in spectacular fashion with its huge increase in assets last year.
Twelve of the companies have the same business address, at the Discovery Centre in the Ortigas Business District. A receptionist there told GMA News that only JLN Corporation used to have its office in the building.
Riches from coal business?
One of the companies that had no operations in 2012 is Asia Star Power Resources Corporation, which had retired AFP Chief of Staff General Hermogenes Esperon as one of its incorporators along with Jo Christine and James Christopher Napoles. Named as board chairman was Janet’s husband Jaime.
Esperon told GMA News that Asia Star “was a legitimate business to trade coal from Indonesia” and that he was elected president and CEO when the company was set up in 2011. However, he resigned in July the same year despite his hard work in setting up the business, saying the coal venture fell apart when Janet Napoles failed to provide financing for the business.
“I sensed that the principal financiers would not take necessary risks and would not come out with the required capital and operating funds,” Esperon said in an interview with GMA News, after his name came up in a list of former government officials that were involved in several Napoles companies.
In a previous interview with GMA News, Janet Lim-Napoles had said much of their wealth comes from a coal business in Indonesia. In her recent GMA News To Go interview, Kapunan refused to name the company, purportedly to protect its Indonesian shareholders.
But according to Esperon, if the Napoleses indeed succeeded in the coal venture, the company there could not have been more than two years in operation.
In an April 2012 filing, Asia Star stated that since its registration in 2011, the company has not conducted any business activity. Nevertheless, that has not stopped another military officer from taking on Esperon’s former position.
The coal company’s 2013 general information sheet shows that former Vice Commander of the Philippine Army Ricardo Brillantes has been named its president and CEO, while former AFP chief Efren Abu serves as director and vice president for operations. – with reports from Jamaica Jane Pascual/YA, GMA News Research
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RELATED STORY:
CA freezes accounts of Napoles, her family, and NGOs
By Mark D. Merueñas
GMA News
GMA News
(Updated 7:05 pm) The Court of Appeals (CA) has frozen the accounts of embattled businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, her family, and all non-government organizations connected to her and her business, JLN Corp.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, in a text message to reporters Friday, said the freeze order was requested by the Anti-Money Laundering Council and the Office of the Solicitor General.
“Acting on the Petition filed by AMLC thru OSG, a Freeze Order was issued today by CA covering the accounts and related web of accounts of Janet Lim Napoles, family members, other relatives and staff, as well as those of the NGOs identified with JLN, effective for a period of 6 mos,” De Lima said.
Napoles, in hiding after a Makati court issued an arrest warrant against her and her brother over a serious illegal detention case, is implicated in the P10-billion scam involving the pork barrel funds of several lawmakers.
She has denied the accusation, saying her riches came from her trading company and a legitimate coal business in Indonesia.
Records from the Securities and Exchange Commission show that JLN Corporation’s assets soared to P92 million in 2012, more than three times the amount in previous years, according to a report from GMA News Research.
Another Napoles company, JCLN Global Properties Development Corporation, registered an even bigger spike with total declared assets amounting to P180.69 million last year, more than eight times the amount in the previous year.
‘Clearly despotic’
Sought for comment, the lawyer of Napoles welcomed the assets freeze on the various NGOs being linked to the fugitive businesswoman.
“Maganda nga na ma-freeze ang sa NGOs, para lumabas ang mga tunay na may-ari niyang mga iyan at mapatunayan namin na hindi talaga iyan kay Mrs. Napoles,” legal counsel Lorna Kapunan told GMA News Online.
However, she condemned the assets freeze on the bank accounts of Napoles, her family, and other relatives.
“This shows that Sec. De Lima has exceeded her bounds. This is clearly despotic! She should be giving us the benefit of the doubt,” Kapunan said.
The lawyer insisted that the freeze on Mrs. Napoles’ personal assets was tantamount to “confiscation of properties,” saying none of her client’s accounts is the subject of any ongoing government investigation.
Kapunan also lamented the lack of communication between government agencies and the Napoles camp.
“As usual in-anounce na naman niya sa media even before informing the counsels,” Kapunan said.
Earlier, Kapunan complained that De Lima had announced the issuance of the warrant of arrest against her client to the media even before the lawyer found out about it.
“It’s becoming clear, the pattern here. We were the last to know and this AMLC investigation, it’s part of due process that concerned parties should be informed,” she added. — KBK/YA, GMA News
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RELATED STORY:
De Lima mulls bounty for Napoles, brother
By MARK D. MERUEÑAS
GMA News
GMA News
The government is studying the possibility of putting a bounty on controversial businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and her brother, who were both ordered arrested over serious illegal detention charges.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told reporters on Friday that she would first have to “consult with the National Bureau of Investigation” on possibly offering reward money for any information that could lead the the siblings’s arrest.
The NBI, which is under the Department of Justice (DOJ), is on a nationwide manhunt operation against Napoles and her brother, Reynald Lim, who are accused of illegally detaining Benhur Luy, the whistleblower in the P10-billion pork barrel scam, where Napoles is implicated.
De Lima said she’ll wait for 24 to 48 hours before coming up with a decision as advised by the NBI.
“As of (Thursday), when I consulted the NBI officials on the propriety and necessity of offering reward money, they said we should wait for developments first in the next 24 or 48 hours,” she said.
The NBI has deployed a dozen teams to track down the siblings, even as the regional offices of the NBI have been tapped to help.
Tension at Manila Yacht Club
In a related development, tension briefly gripped the Manila Yacht Club in Manila on Friday after NBI agents looking for Napoles there were denied entry to the premises.
An NBI team, acting on a tip, tried to enter the MYC but security told them they had no prior coordination, radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo reported.
De Lima has earlier urged the public to help authorities in looking for Napoles and Lim, stressing that a “citizen’s arrest” could be invoked to allow private individuals to collar the fugitives.
Security personnel eventually let the NBI agents in, but the search turned out negative.
Benhur Luy
Napoles and Lim were accused of holding Luy against his will inside a condominium unit in Taguig City for three months, or from December 2012 to March 2013.
Napoles is at the center of a scam in which pork barrel funds — or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) —are funneled to non-existent foundations that she allegedly runs. She and the lawmakers, from whom the funds came, are said to split the money through a 70-30 share, with the lawmakers getting the bigger share.
Meanwhile, De Lima described as “premature” a petition filed Friday morning by the camp of Napoles asking the Court of Appeals to stop the arrest order and invalidate the case lodged against her by the DOJ.
De Lima said instead of running to the CA, Napoles should have first brought up her concern to the Makati coirt that issued the arrest warrant. She said she is confident the petition would be dismissed for being premature. — KBK, GMA News
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