Ex-finance minister got $10.2 million in bribes – prosecutor

The 12th Criminal Court has rejected a move by the defense of the former Minister of Economy and Finance (MEF) Frank De Lima against the order of inquiry issued on September 1, 2017, by the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office in the investigation of Odebrecht bribes.

In a ruling dated January 17, 2019, the twelfth criminal judge, Óscar Carrasquilla, dismissed the appeal filed by the lawyer Roberto Ruiz Díaz, on behalf of De Lima, arguing that the evidence in the investigation pointed to the possible commission of a crime of money laundering reports La Prensa.

In the ruling, Carrasquilla states that he can not access the appeal because his office cannot interfere in the investigative work carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

He explained that the prosecutor’s office links De Lima to the commission of the crime of money laundering due to the fact that the ex-official served as the head of the MEF during the period being investigated, a charge that was – says the investigating agency – used to benefit the Odebrecht company in tenders with the Government in exchange for the payment of bribes.

The prosecution provided the testimony of Olmedo Méndez, who, after an agreement of punishment and collaboration agreed with the MP, associated De Lima with monies received by the company Ralford Limited by the Aeon Group. Méndez confessed to being a figurehead of De Lima.

The company was part of the paper companies controlled by Odebrecht’s Department of Structured Operations, destined to pay bribes abroad.

He also contributed the testimony of José Luis Saiz, who, in his agreements of punishment and collaboration with the MP, linked the former minister with money from Herzone Overseas Ltd., linked to Odebrecht. Saiz, after the agreement with the prosecution,  he returned $750,000 of the bribes.

Andrés Mozes Libedinsky is also indicated by the prosecution as one of the frontmen used by De Lima to move large sums of money, allegedly related to Odebrecht.

In the effective collaboration agreements reached by Odebrecht executives and approved by the 12th Criminal Court, it is established that Libedinsky received over $3 million, from November 2013 to April 2014, from companies linked to Odebrecht.

Mozes Libedinsky is named represented as a representative of the company Ralford Limited.The prosecutor’s investigation indicates that De Lima received at least $10.2 million of Odebrecht bribes.

Defense
De Lima’s lawyer maintains that his client has not been directly or indirectly linked to the creation or creation of the company Herzone Overseas, through which Odebrecht would have moved large sums of money. In addition, he says that they can not point to their client as a shareholder of that company.

He indicated that there is no evidence that the former minister, from Herzone Overseas and the other companies, has made money transfers.

De  Lima the has measure of impediment of exit from the country for this case since December 28, 2017, when the full Court changed the preventive detention measure. He is also facing other charges.