2-years dodging justice in a hospital bed

THE FORMER head of the General Directorate of Revenue (DGI),  under investigation for the alleged embezzlement of millions of dollars has been dodging justice for nearly two years in Panamama’s most expensive hospital complex.

Luis Cucalón, is facing charges  of embezzlement in the collection of delinquent taxes through the Company Cobranzas del Istmo, S.A., a case in which another defendant under house arrest claims he delivered suitcases stuffed with cash to then president Ricardo

Meanwhile  Cucalón  continues to evade justice reports La Prensa.

On  September 9   he will have been  2 years “imprisoned “in the Hospital Punta Pacifica, alleging affections in the lungs, among other ailments.

However, one of the strategies of his defense to invalidate part of the process has been discarded reports La Prensa.  The Supreme Court has rejected an amparo of constitutional guarantees against an order of the First Criminal Court, which granted an extension of four months to the First Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office to conclude the investigation. The presentation was in charge of the magistrate Jose Ayú Prado. The First Criminal Court gave the prosecution an extension, concluding that it is “a complex investigation “whose

The First Criminal Court gave the prosecution an extension, concluding that it is “a complex investigation “whose offense carries a prison sentence of 8 to 15 years.

In  June, Cucalón’s lawyer, Juan Carlos Sánchez, filed an appeal against The first criminal judge, Águeda Rentería, to try to remove the file and have it assigned to another court. Sánchez claims that Rentería has not sent to the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences a request for his client to be reviewed by a physician, in order to establish his health condition.

The resource is in the hands of the second criminal judge Johann Barrios, who must decide if he accepts or not.

For now, Cucalón will face the hearing of the case on September 18; this, after the hearing  scheduled for September 12, was suspended because he had health problems.

It is not the   only case on hold. The ex-official has also been able to delay the investigation of the alleged commission of the crime of abuse of authority to the detriment of Digicel reports La Prensa.

Again arguing also health problems, Cucalón has avoided the two hearings of this process.

Questions raised related to the evasion of justice have been passed on like a hot potato.

Sources at the Public Ministry said that the case is already in the hands of the Judicial Branch.

Trying to discover how many policemen take care of him and how much it costs the state

La Prensa consulted the Ministry of Government, in charge of the prison system and it was reported that Cucalón’s custody is now in the hands of the National Police (PN) as the Ministry  is  only responsible for caring for those deprived of their liberty who are inside a penitentiary.

A spokesman of the National Police, asked for questions  by Email but neither he  nor the Director of the PN, Omar Pinzón, have replied

Civil society groups, such as the Citizens Alliance Pro Justice, have warned that the case could remain unresolved.

The investigation began in January of 2015.