She started small 15 years ago, cutting a deal with the Philippine Marines for the P3.8-million purchase of 500 Kevlar helmets that the Sandiganbayan later found out to be dubious. The court in 2010 punished military officers and civilians who signed the contract.
But Napoles, who encashed the checks from the Marines, got away with it.
In 1998, using her military connections, Napoles committed to deliver 500 Kevlar helmets to the Philippine Marines in exchange for a P3.8-million contract.
She was not a signatory to the deal, however. Instead, she used her mother, brother and sister-in-law to put up dubious companies that participated in a supposed bidding for the supply of the helmets, Sandiganbayan records show.
Her husband, now retired Maj Jaime Napoles of the Marines, was initially charged for failing to investigate the existence of dubious suppliers and his failure to explain the issuance of all 14 checks to his wife. He was however eventually dropped from the case for lack of probable evidence.
Five suppliers participated in the supposed bidding, submitting similar price quotations. The contract was eventually awarded to 7 firms in 1998, only one of which was accredited by the Marines, according to court records. The rest were either non-existent or carried residential addresses.
Given the total amount of the contract — P3.8 million — it required the signature of the Armed Forces chief of staff at the time. To go around the signing threshold, according to the Ombudsman's case filed with the court, the Marines split the contract into 14 identical purchase orders each amounting to P293,763.56.
Because of the lower amount, the signing authority for the split contracts was confined to the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) Commandant. At the time, Lt Gen Edgardo Espinosa was the PMC commandant.
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Full payment, no delivery
On Jan 7, 1999, without any delivery, the Philippine Marines issued the full payment to the 7 firms for the procurement of 500 Kevlar helmets. All 14 checks were immediately encashed on the same day in Napoles’ Security Bank account in Pasong Tamo Branch, Makati, court records and testimonies showed.
Eight months after Napoles got paid, she was still unable to deliver the helmets, the same records showed. It was only in October 1999, a month after it was discovered not a single helmet had been delivered, that she sent the first batch of helmets. She delivered only 201 units out of the 500 she had committed to produce. She completed the delivery only in December 2000, more than a year later.
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