Judges strange and surprising ruling appealed

The central figure in the Paitilla land scandal, Anabelle Villamonte, whose criminal case was recently dismissed by a newly appointed judge, is not off the hook yet.

The September 21 ruling of Third Criminal Court Judge Hilda Bonilla, has been appealed by Prosecutor Victor Barrios, who described aspects of the judge’s ruling as “strange” and “surprising”.The Second Anti-Corruption Prosecutor told the Second Court that the existence of a crime was proven in the investigation of Villamonte, former director of Land Management,(Anati) Cesar Perez Ferreira andFrancisco Segura and after the free granting of a plot of land in Paitilla.
Barrios asked the Second Court to reverse the decision of Judge Bonilla and to open a criminal case against the accused.
According to Barrios, an offense was committed in issuing a resolution favoring Venturas Society Inc., granting a possessory right on a lot that was not originally requested.
Barrios considered it "surprising" that the judge concluded that with gratuitous transfer of that property, the injury disappeared and therefore concluded there was no crime, ignoring, according to the prosecutor, offenses against the administration and public faith.
He also questioned the definition of Bonilla, who argued that all this was an "administrative error" because it was proven that Villamonte had full knowledge of the procedures done by Segura.
Similarly, Barrios considered it "strange" that the court concluded that the documents submitted by Segura for this procedure did not contain falsehoods, which in his opinion is contrary to specialized expertise that was performed during the investigation.
"The judge does not understand that this type of offense against public faith requires no “calligraphic" expertise noted Barrios.