Court confirms second jail term for former Panama mayor
The Superior Court for Settlement of Criminal Cases has confirmed the four-year prison sentence handed down by the First Court for corruption of public servants.
On May 11, the first liquidating judge of criminal cases, Agueda Rentería, sentenced Vallarino to four years in prison for the crime of corruption, in the form of passive bribery to the detriment of the Municipality of Panama.
Vallarino was accused of receiving a bribe of $6,000 from Brazilian businessman Alexandre Ventura Nogueira, in exchange for a contract for the construction of parking lots in the Belisario Porras park.
In March 2015, the Assistant Prosecutor’s Office began the investigation into Vallarino, after in a television interview he said he had accepted $6,000 from Ventura Nogueira.
Later, in a video broadcast on social networks, Ventura Nogueira said that it was a trap against Vallarino ordered by former president Ricardo Martinelli to force his departure from the Mayor’s Office. Ventura Nogueira faces probes for alleged fraud. His whereabouts are unknown.
Vallarino also has a 12-year prison sentence for embezzlement for the irregular management of public funds, related to the awarding of two contracts to the companies Juelpa, SA. and Consulting and Consulting of Panama, to carry out a consultancy for the management of sanitary waste in the district of Panama.