Jump to content

Nicolás Corcione, Perez Balladares and Henri Mizrachi (former members of Panama Canal Authority) and Others Charged With Money Laundering


Recommended Posts

Freed Martinelli Clique Under Fire

 

 

 

THE  14 MEMBERS of  ex-president  Ricardo Martinelli’s inner circle who walked free after a court ruling,  should be investigated for money laundering says the National Assembly prosecutor who sent ex-Supreme Court Judge Moncada Luna to jail.

 

Deputy  Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, prosecutor in the process that led to a plea bargain  and ended with the dismissal and imprisonment of Moncada Luna was referring  on TV to a judgment of the Second Criminal High Court.

 

The decision  quashed the investigation of  Nicolas Corcione Perez Balladares (current member of the the Panama Canal Authority board), Felipe Virzi Alejandro Lopez, Ricardo Alberto Calvo Latorraca and Maria del Pilar Fernandez de Moncada Luna among others.

 

Gonzalez agreed with the statement by Judge Luis Mario Carrasco in his dissenting opinion on the decision signed on September 23 which annulled that process.

“The agreement [penalty] was  applicable only to the judge who was being investigated, not the rest of the people involved in the facts,” Gonzalez, told TVN Channel 2.

 

The decision of judges Wilfredo Saenz (rapporteur) and Maria De Lourdes Estrada also benefited Alberto Ortega Maltez, Felipe Antonio Rodriguez Guardia , Humberto Elias Juarez Barahona, Maria Gabriela Reyna Lopez, Mauricio Antonio Ortiz Quesada, Claudio Poma Murialdo Sonmaruga, Oscar Ivan Rivera, Francisco Feliu Nigaglioni, Jorge Enrique Espino Mendez and Julian Rodriguez Paris.

 

Gonzalez agreed to a “sentencing deal t” with Moncada Luna in which recognized the commission of two crimes (unjust enrichment and falsifying public documents) in exchange for a sentence of 60 months imprisonment.

 

He was not prosecuted for the other two crimes investigated: money laundering and corruption of officials.

 

“That was one of the charges which we investigated and under the agreement, as is established by the relevant article of the Criminal Procedure Code was one of the charges dismissed”  he said. However, he made clear that the agreement only benefits Moncada Luna not others.

 

“I have a position that coincides with [Carrasco], that the rest of the people should be investigated,” he said.

Saenz and Estrada now face criminal charges for the alleged commission of crimes against public administration, corruption of a public servant and / or collusion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderator_02 changed the title to Nicolas Corcione Perez Balladares (former member of Panama Canal Authority)
  • Moderators
Quote

Interpol alert for two Canal board members

Nicolas-Corcione-Henri-Mizrachi_LPRIMA20171205_0003_35-620x264.jpg 
Corcione and Mizrachi
Post Views: 204
INTERPOL  Red alerts have been issued for two members of the board of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) who are reportedly out of the country while under criminal investigation.

Nicolás Corcione and Henri Mizrachi, were appointed by ex-president Ricardo Martinelli and both are charged with alleged money laundering in the “New Business” investigation, involving the use of government funds to purchase a newspaper group, Editora Panamá América, S.A., (Epasa) that became a propaganda sheet for Martinelli.

No-shows
Both have also failed to fulfil their duties as directors of the ACP after being absent from meetings of the state corporation. An ACP spokesman  said  that the directors communicated “that they have had issues personal and business outside the country.” reports La Prensa

It is not the first time that Corcione has been absent from ACP meetings due to legal actions. On September 25, 2015, he reappeared at a board meeting after being absent for two months, when then Organized Crime prosecutor Nathaniel Murgas, tried to investigate, without success,  alleged money laundering related to accounts of ex-Supreme Court judge Alejandro Moncada Luna.

Corcione reappeared one day after the sixteenth criminal judge, Enrique Pérez, resolved that the process should be aired by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. The prosecutor appealed, but in September 2016 the Second Superior Court canceled the process involving  Corcione and 14 other people.

In that investigation, he was linked to former Judge Moncada Luna’s accounts by Jorge Espino Méndez and María Gabriela Reyna. Espino Méndez testified before the prosecution that on instructions from Corcione he paid $400,000 to Cubemu, S.A., linked to Ricardo Ricky Calvo, and  Felipe Pipo Virzi  Espino Méndez also stated that he paid another $ 200,000 to Las Cobros GC, S.A., presumably linked to Corcione.

As a representative of the company Concepto y Espacios, Espino Méndez was awarded several works in the Judicial Branch when Moncada Luna presided over it.

Penalty deal
Recently, Espino Méndez reached a penalty agreement with the Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office related to Odebrecht bribes. In this case, he confirmed that he was the intermediary to receive Odebrecht bribes for former Public Works Minister Jaime Ford.

In a ruling contrary to that of Judge Pérez, on August 30, the plenary session of the Supreme Court (CSJ) denied an appeal for guarantees presented by the legal defense of Mizrachi, in which he alleged that the Prosecutor against Organized Crime had no competence to investigate him as a director of the ACP. in the New Business case.

In the ruling, the CSJ pointed out that the fact that Mizrachi was  “a member of the board of  an autonomous or semiautonomous  entity did  not  prevent the Court hearing the case “

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/interpol-alert-two-canal-board-members

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderator_02 changed the title to Nicolás Corcione Perez Balladares and Henri Mizrachi (former members of Panama Canal Authority) Charged With Money Laundering
  • 5 weeks later...
  • Moderators
Quote

Corruption suspect gets bail after 4 years dodging justice

calvo-and-virzi.png

Calvo and formr Vice-presidnt Virzi

Posted 27/09/2019

A corruption suspect who has dodged the justice bullet for four years and is out of the country has been granted bail of $100.,000

The investigation of Ricardo Calvo Latorraca began on October 22, 2015 following publication of a story in La Prensa, which referred to alleged irregularities in the processing of a loan for the completion of the Amador Convention Center.

The Fourteenth Criminal Court granted bail of $100 000 not to be arrested, within the investigation of alleged peculation related to a loan from the  State Savings Bank(CA) , for $7 million, to the company HPC-Contracts P&V, for the construction of the Amador Convention Center.

In a resolution dated September 5, 2019, signed by Judge Vilma Urieta , it was decided to accept the petition presented by Calvo's defense

Calvo is not in the country and Judge Urieta is knowledgeable about this, reports La Prensa since she herself details in her ruling that once he returns to Panama, the defendant must go to that court in order to communicate the location of his residence since the bond request did s not provided that information.

On November 7, 2016, the prosecution ordered the investigative statement to Calvo for the alleged commission of the crime of peculation, but he never appeared.. Then on August 20, 2018, the court granted a definitive dismissal for the case, which was confirmed by the Second Court of Justice on August 2, 2019.

The anti-corruption prosecutor Adecio Mojica announced an appeal to the Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, to revoke the ruling of the Second Superior Court, which had dismissed Calvo and 21 other investigated suspects.

The ruling also favored  Riccardo Francolini and Jayson Pastor, former chairman of the board of directors and former general manager of the CA, and the former vice president Felipe Pipo Virzi, among others.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/corruption-suspect-gets-bail-after-4-years-dodging-justice

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderator_02 changed the title to Nicolás Corcione, Perez Balladares and Henri Mizrachi (former members of Panama Canal Authority) and Others Charged With Money Laundering

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...