Judith Pena | January 19, 2023
The former Minister of the Presidency, Jimmy Papadimitriu, was definitively dismissed from a criminal proceeding that was being followed against him for the crime against public administration in the form of unjustified enrichment.
The first liquidator judge of criminal cases of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, by means of an order dated January 16, 2023, stated that when examining the procedural pieces that make up the investigation, such as the audit reports of the Comptroller General of the Republic, It was concluded that the former Minister of the Presidency obtained resources from known sources and there was no unjustified enrichment within the 2009-2012 period.
Let us remember that the lawyer, Sidney Sittón, filed the complaint for alleged unjustified enrichment through the National Aid Program (PAN) in the period 2009 to 2014, when Papadimitriu served as Minister of the Presidency.
The First Settlement Court for Criminal Cases also accepted the tax recommendation because, as stated in its referral hearing, it was considered that the income received by Papadimitiu “is justified from the moment it began its administration and during the course of the same, therefore, the crime could not be proven.
“That is why the court considered taking advantage of the tax recommendation and issuing a final dismissal order in accordance with the provisions of article 2007 numeral 2 of the Judicial Code,” said the Judicial Branch.
In the ruling, the judge stressed that within the criminal investigation the existence of a crime was not verified.
