THE Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled with finality and dismissed the appeals of suspected pork barrel scam architect Janet Lim-Napoles and lawyer Jessica Lucila Reyes to stop their plunder trial before the Sandiganbayan.
The high court’s justices denied the motions for reconsideration filed by Napoles and Reyes, the former chief of staff of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile who is also facing a plunder trial in the anti-graft court.
“The Court denies with finality the various motions for reconsideration filed by [the] counsels for [the] petitioners,” said the resolution read by high court spokesman Theodore Te.
Napoles and Reyes had asked the high court in 2014 to nullify the resolutions of the Sandiganbayan and the Office of the Ombudsman approving their indictment for plunder over the pork barrel scam.
The Court also dismissed the appeals of Napoles’ children Jo Christine and James Christopher against arrest warrant issued against them by the Sandiganbayan over the same scam.
The high court rulings pave the way for the trial of the four petitioners before the Sandiganbayan.
Napoles is in jail at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City after she was convicted by a Makati court for illegally detaining PDAF scam whistleblower Benhur Luy.
Reyes is detained in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.