Judge nixes escape move of ex-Minister

The Fourth Criminal Court rejected three incidents that sought to declare the process prescribed for alleged of corruption that follows Erick Francisco Alvarado, Bolívar Espino and Osiris Herrera, as part of the case of former Labor Minister  Alma Cortes of unjustified enrichment.

Judge Yamileth Robles denied the three incidents in a ruling on January 14.

The defendants alleged that the “facts investigated cover the period between June 1, 2009, and May 31, 2015, and to date more than 8 years have elapsed without there being any event that interrupts the limitation period”, which as they say, it is 6 years.

However, the judge concluded that the date that applies to the prescription is the beginning of the case, in 2015, and not when the wrongful act was perpetrated, in 2009, as the defendants allege.

The process began in 2015, after an audit of the Comptroller General, asked to investigate Cortes for alleged unjustified enrichment.

The investigation established that, as a representative of the Foundation for Human and Environmental Development, Bolívar Espino wrote checks to Cortes for $17,000 and $16,000; while Alvarado Santos, who also acted as representative of that foundation, deposited two checks for $16,000 that were endorsed by Osiris Herrera and deposited in the former minister’s accounts.