Villamonte cleared in second land titling case

Six days after taking her seat in the Criminal Court of Appeal Judge Hilda Bonilla dismissed the case against the former director of the National and Management Authority (Anati), Anabelle Villamonte and two others.

Villamonte was found not guilty of embezzlement, Florist Cesar Segura and lawyer Francisco Perez Ferreira were cleared of charges of falsifying documents.

The judgment was signed by Judge Bonilla, who only has six days in front of the Criminal Court of Appeals, replacing Adolfo Mejía who was appointed judge of the Second Superior Court of Justice.
The investigation of the ;and titlig affair process began after the complaint filed on August 12, 2011 by the current governor of Panama, Mayín Correa, because the filling belonged to the Municipality of Panama and, therefore, could not be transferred.
Guillermina McDonald, Villamonte’s lawyer, said the court decided that it was rightfully owned , and no crime was committed .
During the preliminary hearing of the case, held in May, the second Anticorruption prosecutor Lizzette Chevlier called for judgment of Villamonte Segura and Ferreira and said there were there were serious irregularities in the transfer process of the Paitilla land fill.
Villamonte was earlier acquitted by the same court for, supposedly irregular land transfers in Juan Hombrón when she was working for the Papadimitriu family and before she was appointed to Anati. A furthere land titling involving Villamonter is now under way.
La Prensa checked with the Press Secretary of the Attorney General to see if Chevalier would appeal the ruling, but reportedly she had not been notified of the decision of the court.
Last week, work began on the construction of a park in the disputed lot in Paitilla which was seized by the government when Villamonte was under investigation.