Napoles children ask Sandiganbayan to dismiss case

MANILA, Philippines - The two children of pork barrel scam operator businesswoman Janet Napoles on Monday asked the anti-graft court to dismiss the cases against them.

In their motions to defer issuance of arrest warrant, Jo Christine and James Napoles also requested the Sandiganbayan to suspend the court hearings pending the resolution of their instant motion.

The two are co-accused in the graft charges for their alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.

They argued in their motion that there is no probable cause for the issuance of the arrest warrant against them.

They also noted the absence of evidence to show that they indeed signed documents related to projects involving the Priority Development Assistance Funds of the legislators.

The Napoles siblings maintained that they were just implicated "by unfounded and sweeping verbal allegations made by the principal conspirators."