By Jonathan Hicap  An inmate has denied knowing about the source of money and vehicles allegedly given to detained Sen. Leila de Lima for her senatorial campaign in 2016. Senator Leila de Lima (REUTERS / MANILA BULLETIN) Hans Anton Tan, an inmate at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa, testified on Nov. 22 at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 in Case 17-166 filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against De Lima and Jose Adrian “Jad” Dera. De Lima, former Justice Secretary during the previous administration, and Dera are accused of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading by allegedly extorting and soliciting P3 million and four vehicles from Peter Co and other prisoners at the NBP for the senator’s senatorial bid in the May 2016 election. According to Filibon “Boni” Tacardon, one of De Lima’s lawyers, based on Tan’s testimony, “lumabas na yung totoo regarding sa testimonya ni Hans Tan na puro kasinungalingan.” (The truth has been revealed that Hans Tan’s testimony is all lies.) “Una, inamin niya na wala siyang personal knowledge tungkol dun sa sinasabi niyang dineliver na pera ni Jad, ni Jose Adrian Dera kay Senator De Lima. In fact, inamin niya na yung isang milyon na sinasabi ng prosecution campaign ay para sa senatorial campaign ni Senator De Lima ay binigay ni Peter Co para mapalaya yung kanyang pamangkin na sinabi niya hinuli raw ng NCRPO raid,” Tacardon said in an interview after the hearing. (First, he admitted having no personal knowledge about Dera’s delivery of money to Senator De Lima. In fact, he admitted that the P1 million referred to by the prosecution campaign as earmarked for Senator De Lima’s senatorial campaign was given by Peter Co to free his nephew whom he said was nabbed in a police raid.) According to Tacardon, Tan said he saw De Lima, then justice secretary, only once and on that day she did not introduce Dera as her nephew. Dera is being linked to the senator as her relative. Her camp has repeatedly denied, saying the two are not related by blood nor they had worked together before. As early as March 2017, De Lima had issued a statement to deny that she knew Dera, saying “He is not a nephew nor a relative of mine of any degree. He has not worked for me as an aide or in any capacity. I simply do not know him from Adam.” Dera is suspected of soliciting money and vehicles from high-profile inmates at NBP and giving them to the senator. Tacardon previously said that in his affidavits, Dera denied knowing the senator or being affiliated with her. “Lumabas din dun sa testimonya na yung sinasabi niya na bodyguard at pamangkin si Jose Adrian Dera ni Senator De Lima ay sinabi lang sa kanya nung kinausap siya ni Solicitor General Jose Calida at Asuncion,” said Tacardon. (Tan’s testimony revealed that what he said about Dera being the bodyguard and nephew of Senator De Lima was only told to him by Solicitor General Jose Calida and BuCor Director Rolando Asuncion.) The lawyer added that Tan told the court that he had no knowledge about the source of the money that was supposedly given by inmate Peter Co to Senator De Lima. “Tandaan natin na ang akusasyon ng prosecution is that yung pera daw na binibigay ni Peter Co kay Jose Adrian Dera ay nanggaling sa drug proceeds o nanggaling sa drug trade ni Peter Co. Pero sa testimonya ni Hans Tan, sinabi niya na hindi niya alam kung saan galing yung pera na yun,” Tacardon said. (Let us recall that the prosecution’s accusation is that the money supposedly given to Dera came from proceeds of Peter Co’s drug trade. But in Tan’s testimony, he said he does not know where that money came from.) Regarding the vehicles allegedly given for De Lima’s senatorial campaign, Tan said he didn’t know anything about those either. Tacardon said based on Tan’s admission, the information in court records alleging that vehicles were given to De Lima has no basis in fact, and that prosecution cannot show proof that the allegations about the vehicles are true or factual. “Sinabi din niya na yung mga sasakyan na supposedly dineliver o hiningi ni Jose Adrian Dera ay wala siyang kaalam-alam, ni hindi niya masabi kung anong sasakyan yan, sinong may-ari niyan, anong plate number yan, anong tipo ng sasakyan yan. (Tan also said that regarding the vehicles that were supposedly delivered or requested by Dera, he has no knowledge about them, he can’t even say what kind of vehicles they were or who owned them, what their plate numbers were.) “So ang nasa records ngayon ng korte ay yung claim lang ni Hans Anton Tan na nagbigay sila ng sasakyan para sa senatorial campaign ni Senator De Lima na wala namang suporta o wala namang basehan, o wala man lang silang mapakitang patunay na talagang nagbigay sila ng sasakyan para kay Senator De Lima.” (So all that’s in the court records is Tan’s claim that they gave vehicles for De Lima’s senatorial campaign, without any support or basis for the claim, nor can they show proof that they actually gave vehicles for De Lima.) During the hearing, it was stipulated by the defense and prosecution that the alleged bank accounts where the drug money was allegedly deposited are not owned by Senator De Lima.