Day six of Odebrecht hearing opposition team speaks

The sixth day of the preliminary hearing of the Odebrecht case began Monday, September 19, in a court chaired by Judge Baloísa Marquínez.

The day started with the reading of opposition briefs to the mammoth five-day reading of the prosecution’s file.

José Porta, who worked in the campaign team of José Domingo Arias, presidential candidate for Cambio Democrático (CD)  in his brief, acknowledged that he was a “nominee director” in a company that was used to raise funds for the Arias campaign. However, he pointed out that he had no responsibility for running the society. He also read statements by Mónica Maura I, a publicist linked to Odebrecht, presumably exempting him from responsibility.

Then came the brief of another defendant, the former Minister of the Presidency, Demetrio Jimmy Papadimitriu.

followed by, a brief prepared on behalf of María Sol Rivera Bigas. Rivera, according to the tax hearing, had a close relationship with former president Ricardo Martinelli and would have received money as “maintenance” from Odebrecht, as declared by the former head of the construction company in Panama, André Rabello.

 After a recess, the opposition brief of the accused Michelle Lasso Barraza was read, who in her defense alleged that she did not act with “fraud” and alleged that the prosecution did not consider events that make her accusation unfeasible. She points out that her father, Jaime Lasso (also accused), managed all the bank accounts; that she only appeared as a signatory, and that at all times she limited herself to following her father’s instructions.

Subsequently, the opposition brief sent by Jaime Ford, former Minister of Public Works in the Martinelli government, was read.

Information in development…