NBI: News on Napoles surgery mere speculation

MANILA, Philippines - No information has reached the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that fugitive Janet Lim-Napoles has undergone cosmetic surgery to evade arrest.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima took exception to an ABS-CBN report that the NBI is looking into the possibility that the businesswoman might have changed her looks.

“I don’t know if someone from the NBI really said that, or if there’s really a source,” she said. “But there’s no official report relative to that possibility, so that is a speculation at this point.”

De Lima said the NBI has been pursuing several leads in the nationwide hunt for Napoles and her brother Reynald Lim, whom a Makati court ordered arrested last week on charges of serious illegal detention.

“There are many leads being pursued, but none has yielded positive results yet,” she said.

De Lima said the NBI has been receiving tips about a particular place that she refused to identify.

“Just this morning, there is information on one place where the NBI team had previously been to several times, including the first day Napoles and Lim disappeared,” she said.