Eight draw long jail terms, big fines in Blue Apple case

On Monday, November 13 Judge Baloisa Marquínez handed down sentences ranging from 12   to 14  years of jail time to eight people, including the former Ministers of Public Works Federico Suárez and Jaime Ford,  and the former president of the board of directors of the Caja of Savings (CA), Riccardo Francolini, in the Blue Apple case.

Suárez was sentenced to 14 years and the payment of a fine of $27.4 million, for money laundering. For the same crime, Octavio Samaniego was sentenced to 152 months in prison.

Ford,  was sentenced to 80 months in prison and a fine of $11.4 million for money laundering.

Francolini, a figure very close to former president Ricardo Martinelli), was sentenced to 60 months in prison and a fine of $470,000 for money laundering, the same as George Moreno Pérez Venero and Alcides Bernal Zambrano, who faced 80 and 60 months in prison, respectively.

For the crimes of corruption of public servants, Judge Marquínez found Juan Daniel Girón and César Jaramillo guilty. Against the first, he was sentenced to 64 months in prison, and against the second, 72.

Marquínez also ordered the confiscation in favor of the State of several assets, namely: a villa in the PH Bristol Villas Buenaventura, valued at $235,000;  an apartment on the tenth floor of PH Wind Rose, in Coco de Mar; a land in Mariato, Veraguas, valued at $63,166, and five bank accounts and fixed deposits.

Until now, the Public Ministry had managed to recover $40 million of a total of about $80 million that would have been embezzled.

The investigation began on October 30, 2017, following a complaint about the existence of a basket account in the name of the company Blue Apple Services, which used to receive bribes provided by contractors of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP), during the Martinelli government.

Two of Martinelli’s sons were accused in the case, however, they were not prosecuted by Judge Marquínez: on August 21 (one day before the trial began) they managed to have their case transferred to the Supreme Court e after being sworn in as substitute deputies of the Latin American Parliament (Parlacen). In this way, Luis Enrique and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares must now be prosecuted by the full Court, as well as the Parlacen deputy, Kristelle Getzler Herrera, wife of the former Minister of Economy and Finance, Frank De Lima, and also investigated for Blue Apple bribes.