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Nine accused of embezzlement acquitted by court in Panama


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Nine accused of embezzlement acquitted by court in Panama

Sat, 08/25/2018 - 20:02

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A court in Panama acquitted nine people accused of embezzlement against the Ministry of Public Works for the acquisition of alleged extra costs of goods and services to address a national emergency caused by rains in 2010.

The acquitted persons are Jorge Perivancich, Jonel Carol, Alfredo Yáñez, Julio Ángel Ross, Luis Saavedra, Ibeth Vázquez, Erika de García, Juan Bautista Zamora and Ricardo Antonio López, the Judicial Branch reported Friday.

Special deputy judge, Andy Gutiérrez, based his decision on "the lack of report from the Comptroller General," which is "a fundamental piece to assess the criminal responsibility in this type of crime," said an official statement.

Also, "it was established that one of the auditors who drafted the internal audit report lacked the suitability of an authorized public accountant (...) so that report could not be used to decide criminal liability," said the Thirteenth Criminal Circuit Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama.

The special deputy said within the process "there is no other evidence that leads this Court to the conviction to determine or know with certainty the participation of the accused."

The acquittal sentence "states there is no promise in the summary of payment, donation or benefit, received by the defendants, from these beneficiary companies, which would lead them to exempt the procedure for the selection of contractors, thus directly awarding purchase orders from companies, which did not offer the best price for the Ministry of Public Works".

"Also no procedure was conducted to inspect the bank accounts of the officials involved in this criminal proceeding, which would help determine the existence of some type of suspicious transaction or transfer by the date of the facts," according to official information. 

The Judicial Body recalled that this case is related to a complaint filed in May 2014 to investigate the alleged cost overruns in the acquisition of goods and services required to ward off situations related to the State of National Emergency declared by the Cabinet Council, on December 10, 2010, resulting from heavy rains, causing flooding and landslides."

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/nine-accused-embezzlement-acquitted-court-panama-7674

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