Former Ombudsman exchanges house arrest for prison cell

The house arrest of Panama’s former ombudsman Patria Portugal has been revoked and she must enter prison after her house arrest was revoked reported the Attorney General’s Office on Friday, February 24.

In a compliance hearing, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office managed to have the measure revoked for Portugal, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for the crime of aggravated embezzlement to the detriment of the Ombudsman’s Office.

On October 7, 2023, the Superior Court of Appeals applied a four-month house arrest sentence to Portugal.

That time was granted for officials from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences to examine Portugal.

After the end of that period, a hearing had to be held to determine her entry into prison or to stay in house arrest.

The judge ordered Portugal’s immediate entry into a prison.

The former official’s defense filed an appeal against Judge Adames’ decision and a hearing was scheduled for next Thursday, February 29, at the Superior Court of Appeals.

The sentence against Portugal is related to two contracts that the former official signed as Ombudsman (April 2011-July 2013). One of them with the company Imaginarium Studio, SA, for an amount of $249,845, for the redesign of the entity’s website, and another for $199,983, for training, awarded to the company En Avant, SA