Criminal complaint against judges who freed Martinelli inner circle

A  CRIMINAL complaint has been filed against Judge María de Lourdes Estrada de Villar, who was one of the judges who  dismissed  money laundering charges against 14 “circulo cero”( inner circle)   associates of ex- President Ricardo Martinelli.

The decision sent shock waves through civil society groups and political observers.

The complaint was filed Sunday, October 9  at the Public Prosecutor’s Office by the law firm Vega & Alvarez, who asked for an investigation into Estrada for corruption and offenses against public administration.

Estrada signed as  the ruling dated September 23, 2016, under the presentation of Wilfredo Saenz. Judge Luis Mario Carrasco acted as rapporteur.

The complainant requests that the citing as witnesses : Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, Ana Matilde Gómez, Katleen Levy and Zulay Rodríguez.

Gonzalez  served as a prosecutor in the judicial proceedingsnagainst  Moncada Luna  in 2015; the other  three acted as warranty judges .

The  case ended with an “agreement ” in which Moncada Luna accepted a guilty plea of crimes of unjust enrichment and falsifying public documents, in exchange for a reduced sentence of 60 months imprisonment.

The decision of  Saenz and Estrada annulled the investigation conducted by the Special Prosecutor against Organized Crime against Nicholas Corcione Perez Balladares (current member of the board of the Panama Canal Authority), Felipe Alejandro Virzi Lopez, Ricardo Alberto Calvo Latorraca, Alberto Maltez Ortega and Maria del Pilar Fernandez, wife of Moncada Luna currently in El Renacer prison.

It also  benefited Felipe Antonio Rodriguez Guard, Humberto Barahona Elias Juarez, 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.

Vega & Alvarez will  also proceed criminally against Saenz, but this action must be filed with the Assembly as  Saenz is also-deputy to Supreme Court Criminal Chamber  Judge  Harry Diaz