Convicted judge escapes jail time, fined $2,500

A judge found guilty of the crime of theft of public documents linked to the Financial Pacific investigation involving numerous high profile figures from the Martinelli era (2009-2014) will not be serving the jail sentence that was handed down.

The anti-corruption prosecutor Ruth Morcillo requested a sentence of 38 months (three years and two months in prison) for suspended seventh criminal judge Felipe Fuente. But r, the members of the court replaced the penalty with  500 days fine at the rate of five dollars a day, ($2,500)payable in six months to the National Treasury.

As an accessory penalty, Fuentes was imposed 20 months of disqualification of public functions.

“Here there are serious situations for the administration of justice,” Fuentes said on his departure from the Accusatory Penal System of Plaza Ágora.

An investigation was opened to Fuentes last January for allegedly subtracting booklets from the High Spirit (Ricardo Martinelli)account file of the defunct Financial Pacific (FP brokerage

Fuentes was removed from his post last February, after admitting that he took the booklets “wrongly” for his house, and when he was going to return to his office they fell off the motorcycle he was riding.

The booklets were found by a citizen on the Arraiján-Panama road, at the height of Loma Cová, and delivered to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and a criminal proceeding was opened.