Tax embezzlement suspects want plea deal

THE TWO  central figures in the  Tax collecting embezzlemen scandal   have  told a judge that they are willing to make a penalty deal with the Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office.

Luis Cucalón, former head of the General Directorate of Revenue (DGI), and Cristóbal Tobín Salerno,  linked to Cobranzas del Istmo, S.A. (CISA), a debt collecting firm,  made the announcement to First Penal   Judge  Agueda Rentería on Monday, Sep. 18

At the hearing, both raised the possibility in order to make prosecutor Adecio Mojicac aware of it before entering the pleadings phase.

Cucalón, arrived in court from the El Renacer prison where he was transferred last week after a two-year stay in Panama’s most upscale hospital.

He was manacled hand and foot and wearing a white tee shirt. His lawyer , requested the suspension of the   hearing to be empowered to represent his client and he needs time to examine the file.

The judge summoned the parties for  trial on October 26

The rejected an application to change  preventive detention to house arrest.

Rentería said she analyzed the reports of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Imelcf), which stated that Cucalón’s health is “stable”..

Cucalón  told the judge”I was not in a hotel,” and said that when he was hospitalized, he could not “walk.”

On September 12, the judge ordered the transfer of Cucalón to El Renacer after changing the hospital detention  measure,

Salerno, operator of  Cobranzas del Istmo, S.A.,   has told prosecutors that he delivered suitcases stuffed with cash to ex-president Ricardo Martinelli, at the presidential palace.

Through his lawyer,  Salerno filed an application for accumulation of other charges and an incident of nullity. Both were rejected by the judge and the defense announced an appeal.

Maria Alejandra Salerno, daughter of Salerno, Magaly Ramos, Edgardo González and Irasema Sánchez, all linked to CISA were also  in court CISA  in the past government had the exclusive contract to collect the delinquent portfolio of the State.

The hearing took place behind closed doors.

Salerno returned to his luxury apartment in Puta Pacifica where he remains under house arrest. Luis Cucalón, returned to El Renacer where many of his neighbors are also faced with orruption investigations.