Court confirms 10-year jail terms for disappeared spy machine

The Superior Court for Settlement of Criminal Cases of the First Judicial District of Panama confirmed the sentence of 120 months in prison to Gustavo Pérez, and Giacomo Tamburelli, for the loss of one of the spy machines used by the National Security Council (CSN) in the government of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014).

The Judicial Branch reported Friday September 15 that the second instance ruling of August 25, 2023 ratifies the condemnatory ruling of March 10, 2023, issued by the First Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama.

The First Liquidation Court declared Pérez, former head of the CSN, and Tamburelli, former director of the defunct Social Investment Fund (FIS), criminally responsible as perpetrators of the crime against the public administration, in the form of embezzlement, to the detriment of the FIS, in the current Social Assistance Directorate (DAS).

The ruling also disqualifies former officials from exercising public functions for the same term that runs once the main prison sentence has been served.

The “Pegasus” machine that has been missing since July 2014 was acquired in 2012 from the Israeli company MLM Protection, for $13 million, was managed through the DAS, then directed by Tamburrelli

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