Convicted embezzler returns assets

WITH AN APPEAL, against the return of millionaire lifestyle assets on  its way to  a  higher court the convicted  ex-director of the now defunct National Assistance Program (PAN), Rafael Guardia Jaén, has reacted to the public outcry and made available to the Public Ministry the assets that were not confiscated by the Fifteenth Court in the validation of the penalty agreement.

There are six bank accounts, three apartments, three vehicles, including the near $1 million mansion in  Costa del Este, which will now be transferred to the State’s assets.

“I offer my apologies to the country for what I considered it was my right to try to recover what I had obtained with my personal effort during all the years of work outside the Government and my duty to deliver what was wrong, but I understand the national dissatisfaction and for that reason I have taken this step “, said Guardia Jaén in an official notice that was announced  by his  lawyer Víctor Orobio, who has also come under fire.

The lawyer formalized the return of the assets before the Prosecutor’s Office so that they can be delivered to the judge. Guardia Jaén and the Prosecutor’s Office reached an agreement of five years in prison for the crimes of money laundering and embezzlement in the case of the purchase of grain through the PAN. Of the five years, Guardia has served three years since his arrest. Reports La Estrella

Civil society leaders had described his retention of the mansion and other assets as proof that “crime pays”