A team of agents from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been dispatched to arrest businesswoman Janet Napoles (the alleged mastermind of the P10-billion pork barrel controversy) and her brother Reynaldo Lim, for reportedly kidnapping Benhur K. Luy, the scam’s principal whistle-blower and a former worker for Napoles.

Inquirer.net reports that state prosecutors filed the case on August 13 after the NBI found probable cause for the indictment of Napoles and Lim.

Luy’s alleged kidnapping was brought to the surface after his parents, Arturo and Gertrudes, who complained that they haven’t seen their son since December 20. He was rescued on March 22 from a condominium unit owned by Napoles located in Bonifacio Global City. Luy then released an affidavit claiming that Napoles’s company, JLN Corporation, would set up phony nongovernment organizations that would make deals with government officials so they can liquidate their pork barrel funds.

Lim was arrested during the March 22 rescue operation, but he was admitted to St. Luke’s Medical Center after he complained of suffering from chest pains. The next day, the NBI recommended the prosecution of both Napoles and Lim for illegal detention, but Napoles denied all of the allegations in an affidavit released on April 15, maintaining that her company never made deals with the government. She also accused Luy of taking out a P5 million loan without her knowledge and keeping P300,000 that she had asked him to deposit in her bank account. She then sued Luy on June 25 for theft, but Luy remains free as he had already been admitted into the government’s Witness Protection Program.

However, Napoles seemed to have been tipped off about her arrest as her lawyers were already observed in court before the warrant was issued. Another source also told the Inquirer that the NBI has reportedly located her in the south of Manila.

(Screencap from GMA News via YouTube)