Court ruling on Martinelli insiders a joke

Court ruling on Martinelli insiders “a joke”

A  COURT that allowed 14 close associates of ex- President Ricardo Martinelli and former Supreme Court Justice Alejandro Moncada Luna  to walk free after being  charged with money laundering continues to cause waves in civil groups and legal circles.

La Prensa  reports that Lawyer James Bernard, one of the advisers to Deputy Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, who prosecuted Moncada Luna, said that the judges who made the decision should have consulted the National Assembly, since that body had investigated Moncada Luna.

“The Assembly was the only entity that had jurisdiction to investigate and proceed with the prosecution of the Supreme Court judge,” Bernard said. “The court should have requested the files.”

In a  Seprember ruling two of the three judges of the Second Superior Criminal Court ruled that the money laundering charges against 14 defendants should be dismissed because the charges of money laundering were dismissed against Moncada Luna as part of a plea agreement.

Moncada Luna pleaded guilty to two other charges and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Bernard said that the money laundering charges filed against the 14 other individuals was based on evidence uncovered during the Moncada Luna investigation, but it needed to be judged on its own merits.

“They were different investigations,” he said.

Magaly Castillo, of the Citizen’s Alliance for Justice, called the ruling “a joke.”