Former lawmakers face embezzlement probes

A former lawmaker has been charged by the Anticorruption Prosecutors with alleged irregularities in the National Assembly’s payroll, investigations.

He is one of 24 ongoing related investigations.The Public Ministry informed La Prensa that in two of these investigations five people have been charged, including a former deputy, whose name was not released. They are accused of the alleged commission of the crimes of falsehood, embezzlement and money laundering.

One of those cases has already been declared a complex case and another one is awaiting a hearing date to request that it also be elevated to that category.

However, citizens perceive that these cases are moving slowly. Theeosecution explained that the different folders have reached the Public Ministry at different times. For this reason, the processing and response time of the entities from which some type of evidence is requested varies.

They said that the response period of the courts and offices of the judicial system to the requests made by prosecutors also affects, since all these processes are handled through the accusatory criminal system, in which the judge of guarantees is the one who decides on the application of precautionary measures and legalization of evidence, among others.

Currently, the prosecution is carrying out procedures aimed at obtaining information from public entities, as well as from companies. Among the entities from which information is requested are: the National Assembly itself and the Electoral Tribunal. Also on the list are some companies linked to deputies and former deputies.

The scandal over the irregular handling of the Assembly’s payrolls reached the judicial authorities after the Office of the Comptroller General during Federico Humbert’s period, audited the Legislative’s payroll, as well as donations and contracts. But the case came to light as a result of a journalistic investigation by La Prensa.

In August 2019, the Comptroller’s Office delivered to the Anticorruption Unloading Prosecutor’s Office 24 boxes – with 174 volumes – of audits related to alleged irregularities in contracts for professional services and donations from the National Assembly. Former comptroller Humbert ordered the audits of the deputies ‘payroll for the 2014-2019 five-year period, after detecting a series of irregularities in the management of these funds: people who were paid without working or who provided services in the deputies’ businesses, donations that did not they reached the beneficiaries, among others.

In turn, in 2018, the former comptroller presented at least 11 complaints against deputies on this issue before the Supreme Court. Some of the complaints were sent to the Public Ministry,