Zulay Rodríguez Reached a Financial Agreement in the Gold Bullion Case

Former PRD deputy Zulay Rodríguez was charged Monday October 28 with the alleged commission of the crime of aggravated fraud in relation to the appropriation of gold sheets belonging to the deceased Mexican José Luis Penagos. Hours later, a judge ordered the case to be filed.  The hearing began at 8:30 am on Monday, presided over by the judge of guarantees Fermín Bonilla. During the hearing, Judge Bonilla accepted the charges presented by the prosecutor Elizabeth Carrión for the crime of aggravated fraud, but declared the criminal action for the crime of illicit association to commit a crime prescribed.  At around 11:30 a.m., the judge declared a recess to allow time for Juan David Penagos, son of the deceased Mexican businessman, to join the hearing, albeit virtually. The hearing resumed at 2:00 p.m. At that time, Edwin Aldeano, attorney for Juan David Penagos, explained that his client was willing to connect electronically with the court and give a clear explanation of the agreement reached with Zulay Rodríguez.

Penagos connected via Zoom and told the judge that he had spoken with Rodríguez and that they reached an agreement, so he decided to drop the complaint filed against the former deputy. He indicated that he was compensated financially, although the amount of the agreement was not revealed.  The judge asked Penagos if he had been threatened or pressured to reach the agreement, to which he replied no. He also asked him if he had been compensated financially and if he was satisfied with the negotiation, to which he replied yes.  For her part, prosecutor Elizabeth Carrión explained that, in the case of the crime of fraud, it is possible to reach a withdrawal agreement between the parties, and that she had no objections to this.  Meanwhile, attorney Félix Humberto Paz, Rodríguez’s defense attorney, requested that this withdrawal also be extended to the other three people accused of the same crime in a separate file. He alleged that it was a “rigged” case with which they tried to harm his client during the last electoral tournament, but that it has been proven that no crime was committed.

In relation to this case, there is a second investigation in which Álvaro Testa and Rafael Araúz , Rodríguez’s husband and partner, respectively, are involved, as well as Luz Eneida Canto, Araúz’s mother.  Once outside the courtroom, the former deputy assured the media that both she and Juan David Penagos were victims of people interested in harming her political campaign.  The story goes back to 2009, when goldsmiths José Luis Penagos and Luis Felipe Mendoza were detained upon arrival at Tocumen International Airport for failing to declare a load of gold sheets that had been confiscated from them. In 2013, Penagos hired lawyers Zulay Rodríguez and Rafael Araúz to recover the gold, but after some time, both lawyers claimed the sheets as payment for their legal services, to which Penagos’ family responded by filing a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office.