Martinelli-era Minister and wife jailed six years

Panama’s former Minister of Social Development,   Guillermo Ferrufino, and his wife Milena Vallarino de Ferrufino were sentenced to six years in prison for the crime of unjustified enrichment reported the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday, February 22. The sentence was issued by the Third Liquidator Court for Criminal Cases.

According to the prosecution, the couple could not justify assets that reach $2,288,000.

In the trial, held last December, the prosecution presented evidence compiled in the investigation initiated as a result of an audit report from 2014, revealing that Ferrufino was unable to justify certain assets acquired during his tenure as minister in the Ricardo Martinelli era (2009-2014).

The audit of the Comptroller’s Office revealed that in his five years of management Ferrufino obtained income for the sum of $1,126, 884, but his expenses, goods acquired and bank accounts reached the sum of $3,415,180. It showed that he could not justify an amount of $2,288 000.