Corruption  charges prescribed for  ex-ministers but money laundering cases stay

On Monday, September, 12 the first day of the preliminary hearing in the Odebrecht case, Judge Baloisa Marquínez prescribed the crime of corruption, in favor of former ministers Demetrio Papadimitriu, Frank De Lima, and Jaime Ford.

However the former officials continue to be prosecuted for the crime of money laundering, in a case where there are more than 50 people identified as being linked to the Odebrecht corruption plot in Panama.

Demetrio ‘Jimmy’ Papadimitriu said “I am totally innocent… I did not receive any bribes (from Odebrecht)”, upon his arrival at the Gil Ponce Palace of Justice, where the hearing took place.

Former Minister Frank De Lima also gave statements and said that the people who accuse him have been pressured by the justice system, including imprisonment. “They leave them stored until they say what the prosecution wanted them to say in their time.” And he announced that “all this will be clarified by the defense.”