JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II announced on Tuesday that the Department of Justice has started the reinvestigation on the multibillion-peso pork-barrel scam.
At the same time, Aguirre said he has created a special task force to revisit the Priority Development Assistance Fund (Pdaf) scam and correct the “miscarriage of justice” in the earlier investigation conducted by the previous administration.
“I have already ordered the reorganization of the Task Force on Pdaf cases for the purpose of reinvestigation. I designated Undersecretary Antonio Kho as head of the task force,” Aguirre said.
The new panel replaces the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) task force created by former Justice Secretary and now detained Sen. Leila M. de Lima that conducted the investigation on the Pdaf scam.
De Lima’s investigation led to the plunder indictment of former senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy P. Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. and other lawmakers and Executive department officials before the Sandiganbayan.
Aguirre said Kho’s team is composed of prosecutors and NBI agents who will start the task with the analysis of the affidavit and documentary evidence to be submitted by detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged brains of the Pdaf scam.
He added the same task force will handle the fact-finding investigation on alleged anomalies in the Disbursement Acceleration Program.