Janet Lim-Napoles

Janet Lim-Napoles (born Janet Luy Lim; January 15, 1964) is a Filipina businesswoman who is believed to have masterminded the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) Scam.

She was convicted of plunder for her involvement in the PDAF Scam and is facing charges for alleged involvement in the misuse of the Malampaya fund for disaster response operations.

Janet Luy Lim was born in Malabon, then a municipality of Rizal.

She is the fourth of five children of a Chinese Filipino couple: Johnny Co Lim (born Lim King Sing) and Magdalena "Nelly" Lim Luy.

The family lived in Binondo, Manila until December 1970, when Johnny Co Lim died, and Luy returned with her children to her hometown of Maluso, Basilan.

Napoles, who was six at the time, studied at the Maluso Central Elementary School, and completed her secondary education at a local Claretian school.

The family ran the Luys' sari-sari store, and delivered drinks to workers at the local port.

However, some residents of Maluso have claimed that the Luys were a rich family, owning a fish drying business and plots of land.

As the security situation in Basilan began to deteriorate, and the family received threats of extortion, the Lim family moved back to Manila.

Napoles reportedly met her husband, Jaime G. Napoles, on board a ferry which traversed between Mindanao and Visayas.

They married in April 1982, when she was 18.

In Manila, the couple lived in Fort Bonifacio, where the young Napoles ran a carinderia.

Napoles's business interests date back to the early 1990s.

Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) was a program initially implemented in 1990, designed to allow legislators to fund small-scale infrastructure or community projects which fell outside the scope of the national infrastructure program.

It was later ruled as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

Napoles has been linked with an alleged misuse of PDAF, together with Philippine Senators Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, and other congressmen.

In 1993, she solicited for investments in a shipyard in Cebu, promising 5% interest on all investments.

It was later discovered that the money was not invested in the shipyard: according to Col. Ariel Querubin, who was a friend of the Napoles family, the money they had invested in the shipyard was reportedly invested elsewhere, with Napoles pocketing the interest.

While the investment was eventually recovered, Querubin claims the investment led to the death of his first wife.

In 2001, Napoles and her husband were implicated in the acquisition by the Armed Forces of the Philippines of ₱3.8 million worth of substandard Kevlar helmets, and were charged with graft and malversation of public funds by the Sandiganbayan (people's special tribunal).

Records show that from 2009 to 2011, the company paid between ₱9,036 and ₱25,164 in annual taxes, whereas a public school teacher at that time would have paid around ₱35,952 per year.

While her husband was dropped from the list of defendants in 2002, Janet Napoles stood trial, and was acquitted on October 28, 2010, for lack of evidence.

In 2013, it was revealed that Janet Napoles's JLN Corporation had paid significantly less taxes than the average local public school teacher.

Napoles was accused of illegally detaining Benhur Luy, her cousin and former employee in 2014.

Luy's three-month custody under Napoles ended in March 2014.

Napoles alleged that Luy took a ₱5.5 million loan under her name without her authorization.

She also alleged that Luy was supposed to deposit ₱300,000 to her account but did not do so, accusing Luy of theft.

Luy insists that he was detained by Napoles due to fears that Luy will expose Napoles's alleged significant role in the PDAF scam.

Lim was later found guilty beyond reasonable doubt and was sentenced to reclusión perpetua on April 14, 2015.

Napoles and her lawyers have indicated that they will appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals.

She was convicted of plunder on December 7, 2018, for her involvement in the PDAF scam, with the conviction being upheld by the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court on March 13, 2019.

In 2021, the Sandiganbayan convicted Napoles on three counts of graft and three counts of malversation, along with Cagayan de Oro Rep. Constantino Jaraula and three others, in connection with the ₱10 billion pork barrel scam.

Napoles was sentenced to 6 to 10 years imprisonment for each count of graft and 12 to 18 years for each count of malversation.

Napoles stole government funds through the state-owned Technology and Livelihood Resource Center and the nongovernmental organization Countrywide Agri and Rural Economic Development Foundation.

In October 2023, Napoles was convicted by the Sandiganbayan of 9 counts of corruption of a public official while former APEC party-list Rep. Edgar Valdez was convicted of 9 counts of direct bribery.

Also in October 2023, the Sandiganbayan convicted Napoles of 4 counts of graft and 4 counts of malversation of public funds, in connection with the PDAF of former South Cotabato Rep. Arthur Pingoy Jr.

In January 2024, Napoles was convicted 7 counts of corruption of public officials and was sentenced to up to 62 years in prison.

She was also ordered to pay a fine of PHP262 million, with regards to PDAF funds of Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

Estrada was convicted on one count of committing direct bribery and two counts of indirect bribery.

But both Napoles and Estrada were acquitted of the charges of plunder.