The antigraft court, however, acquitted three former TRC officials in the case for the prosecution’s failure to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.Based on the Ombudsman’s charges, Lim requested his pork barrel, also known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund , be released for the purchase of 8,000 sets of livelihood instructional materials and technology kits for a livelihood assistance project.
According to the case records, Lim named Kaagapay Magpakailanman Foundation Inc. as “partner or coimplementer” of the livelihood projects.But state prosecutors established during the trial that the funds were released to KMFI without being examined and verified by TRC officials and without public bidding.
Lim told the court that his only participation relative to his PDAF allocation was his request for its release and denied the rest of the transactions showing his signatures, which he claimed were forged.Even after the presentation of his defense, the court found that Lim was privy to the transactions involving his PDAF allocation.