Martinelli inner circle court decision to be appealed

THE DECISION  of two judges to drop charges against 14 people closely linked  ex-president Martinelli’s  “Zero (inner) circle will be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Prosecutor Rafael Baloyes said Tuesday. October 11, that he will exhaust all possible avenues to challenge the decision to dismiss money laundering charges against 14 defendants.

The decision was issued September. 23 and signed by Second Superior Criminal Court judges Wilfredo Sáenz and María De Lourdes Estrada.

The case was opened after an investigation into criminal activities of former Supreme Court Justice Alejandro Moncada Luna.

Moncada Luna would eventually be sentenced to five years in prison on other charges as part of a plea bargain deal he negotiated.

After that investigation, Baloyes opened the money laundering probe based on evidence that was collected during the Moncada Luna case.

But the judges decided that, since Moncada Luna hadn’t pleaded guilty to money laundering, it invalidated the charges against the individuals in the subsequent investigation.

The prosecutor has announced his first step will be appealing before the Supreme Court, which has the jurisdiction to reverse the decision.

Criminal complaints
Meanwhile, the law firm Vega & Alvarez has filed criminal complaints against judges Sáenz and Estrada. The Attorney General will investigate Estrada while the National Assembly will investigate Sáenz because he is an alternate justice to the Supreme Court.