Janet Lim-Napoles Watch: Philippine Tax Agency Runs After Daughter of Pork Barrel Scam Queen Who Posted Selfie in a Bathtub Overflowing With Money (VIDEOS)
If Jeane Napoles, the flamboyant and public attention-seeking daughter of Janet Lim-Napoles, tagged the pork barrel scam queen of the Philippines, is facing legal problems now, she could only blame herself and her selfie pictures.
With Philippine authorities already hot on the trail of her mother's scam, which allegedly involves P10 billion public funds siphoned in fictional non-governmental organisations that her mum created, the younger Napoles should have learned her lesson not to flaunt their apparently ill-gotten wealth.
But it was too late for 23-year-old Jeanie who had deactivated her social media accounts when her mum was arrested, but her followers and friends had copied some of the photos she had posted in the past. One of them is this selfie showing Jeanie lying on a bathtub full of money.
The photo, which could have been shot to poke fun at the accusation of the whistleblower, Benhur Luy, who said that because of the overflow of money in the Napoles home, it could not fit into the cash vault and some were stored on the bathtub, caught the attention of the Philippine tax agency, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
It led to the BIR investigating the daughter, and the agency discovered she allegedly had purchased a condominium in Los Angeles worth P54.73 million in 2011 and a farm lot in Bayambang, Pangasinan, worth P1.49 million bought in 2012. However, for these two years, the younger Napoles did not file any income tax returns which are evidence of tax evasion, said BIR Commissioner Kim Henares.
The BIR said Jeane Napoles's tax liability amounts to P32 million for the two properties alone.
The Department of Justice has requested assistance from the U.S. government to issue a freeze order on the posh LA condo unit at Ritz Carlton, reportedly being sold.