Reading of giant Odebrecht file nears end on day five

Prosecutor Ruth Morcillo was optimistic that on    Friday, September 16,  the fifth day of the Odebrecht corruption preliminary hearing that the reading of the prosecutor’s case would be completed, to give rise to the next stage, of allegations, where -she said- the Ministry The public is ready to support what has been read so far.

On Friday the reading started on page 652 of nearly 900 and continued outlining links between former officials and individuals established, with illicit money from Odebrecht bribes.

49 citizens are accused in the criminal process. Of them, 47 natural persons and 1 legal person, for the crime of money laundering, and 1 natural person for the crime of corruption of public servants and money laundering.

The investigation of this file, which consists of 2,757 volumes, with more than 1,335,000 pages, began with a complaint filed on September 18, 2015. The Public Ministry requested legal assistance from Switzerland, which allowed for corroboration of several accounts with beneficiaries of companies of money paid in bribes, and final beneficiaries of millionaire accounts controlled by Odebrecht.

It was possible to verify by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor the network of companies, and basket accounts to receive illicit money from Odebrecht box 2, in 2009-2014.

In this act of preliminary hearing, 5 representatives of the Public Ministry, 1 plaintiff attorney, also 33 private defense attorneys and 3 public defenders at the disposal of the court, in addition to several of the defendants in this criminal case, participate.

Full weight of the law
Prosecutor Mahmad Daud Hasan said that: “There is little left to finish the reading of the prosecutor’s hearing… We are prepared to support our work and request the full weight of the law for these people who took advantage of public funds.”