A Panama court ruled this Monday sentences of between 5 and 14 years in prison, and fines of up to $27.4 million to several people convicted in the money laundering case known as “Blue Apple”, including two former Panamanian ministers.
The sentence was issued today by the Second Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases headed by Judge Baloisa Marquinez, in the criminal proceedings against 23 defendants in the so-called “Blue Apple” case, indicated a statement from the Judicial Branch, which does not mention the name of those sanctioned.
In the mixed ruling, published by several local media, eight people were convicted, two for the crime of corruption of public servants with sentences of 5.3 and 6 years in prison, while two others, including a former minister, were imposed 12.6 and 14 years in prison for money laundering.
Former Minister Federico Suárez, who held the Public Works portfolio in the administration of former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), in addition to the 14-year prison sentence, was fined $27.4 million, which must be pay the National Treasury “within 12 months, once the sentence has been executed.”
The court also declared four other citizens criminally responsible, including another former minister, Jaime Ford Castro, also in the Public Works portfolio under Martinelli, “as perpetrators of the crime against the economic orderin the form of money laundering”.
Two of these people were sentenced to 6.6 years in prison, and 5 years to the other two, as well as disqualification from the exercise of public functions for the same term as the main sentence to two of those sanctioned.
Former Minister Ford Castro was fined $11.4 million, which he must pay to the National Treasury within 12 months, according to the information.
Furthermore, the court convicted Ricardo Francolini, former president of the board of directors of the state Savings Bank, with 5 years in prison and a fine of $470,000, for the crimes of illicit association and money laundering.
The main defendants in “Blue Apple”, an alleged bribery scheme linked to contracts with the State, are Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, sons of former President Martinelli, But their last-minute swearing-in as substitute deputies of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) caused their file to go to the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ).
In Panama, by law, deputies can only be investigated and tried by Supreme Court justices who, in turn, can only be prosecuted by legislators, a system that fuels “corruption and impunity.”
Ford and Suárez are also accused, as are other former ministers, former President Martinelli and his two sons, in the Odebrecht case, whose trial is scheduled to begin in Panama next July.
Martinelli’s children have already confessed in the United States that they transferred 28 million dollars in bribes from Odebrecht, and they spent jail time for it in the North American country.
The “Blue Apple” investigation began in 2017. The case involves “more than $82 million that was used for money laundering,” according to the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office).
During the trial, the prosecutor in the case, Aurelio Vasquez, He assured that through a penalty agreement and other mechanisms, 40 million dollars had been recovered in this case.
The trial for the “Blue Apple” case, the Panamanian version of the Odebrecht plotended last September 4 after two weeks of hearing.
EFE
More news
#Prison #sentences #money #laundering #milliondollar #fines #ministers #Panama