Inmate tells House hearing he gave P14million to then justice chief de Lima
A high-profile inmate testified before a congressional inquiry that he provided P14 million proceeds from illegal drugs to former Justice Secretary and Senator Leila de Lima to support her candidacy in the May elections.
Jaybee Sebastian, an inmate at the National Bilibid Prison in Muntilupa City, said he gave P2 million to De Lima, through her security, Joenel Sanchez, before Christmas in 2014.
He was able to confirm that the money reached De Lima when Sanchez called him up on the following day and putting the phone on a loud speaker.
The second time the 36-year old inmate delivered P2 million to De Lima was in January at the office of former Bureau of Corrections Director Franklin Bucayu.
Sebastian said he asked De Lima if he would just give the money to Sanchez, but then De Lima told him that he was not with her aide, and directed him to just leave the money.
The witness, who has been in prison for 16 years due to kidnapping, also claimed that from March to May 2015, he gave Sanchez a total of P10 million to serve as "fund for the upcoming election of Secretary Leila De Lima."
He said Sanchez also told him that from there on, his monthly quota to be delivered to De Lima would be P5 million.
But Sebastian said he told Sanchez, a member of the Presidential Security Group, that it would be hard for him to meet the quota because his other colleague and Chinese drug lords were transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Nineteen high-profile inmates in NBP were transferred in December 2015 after an explosion at the national penitentiary. Sebastian was not among those transferred.
Sanchez, who appeared again in the hearing, denied Sebastian's allegation that he received money from Sebastian.
He added that from May 2015, he was removed as De Lima's securitye and was brought back to PSG in Malacanang.
Sebastian, who reached third year college, admitted that for 16 years, he was able to earn "P30-P50 million" from the illegal drug trade.
He said he and other drug lords, particularly Chinese inmates, were able to transact illegal drugs using cell phones.
While there were signal jammers at NBP, they could ask the penitentiary officials to turn them off for a fee of P100,000 a week to continue with their drug trade outside.
He said the illegal drugs mostly came from China and North Korea, without elaborating.
He has estimated during the height of the drug transactions, if authorities would raid the NBP maximum security compound, they could confiscate P50 million to P100 million, citing that they have "money counting machines" inside.
The House committee on justice has been conducting an investigation in aid of legislation of the alleged proliferation of syndicates and illegal drugs inside the NBP.
For the past four hearings, 22 witnesses have been presented, 14 of whom were inmates at NBP and some were alleged drug lords. Celerina Monte/DMS
