As planned for this Wednesday, at 9:00 am the third day of the preliminary hearing of the Odebrecht case began, where the reading of the Fiscal Hearing is carried out, which will possibly take all this week, and then to the pleadings phase.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, Ruth Morcillo, who participated in said hearing, expressed that in these first days it has been proven that “the Panamanian State has been the victim of this money laundering committed by officials and individuals.”
He recalled that an agreement has already been reached with the construction company Odebrecht for the alleged injury to the State for more than $220 million, “there may be more and throughout the investigation it has been determined that the sum is large.”
Black pudding urged the population to follow the case live, through the digital platforms of the Public Ministry and stay informed of how the events occurred.
During the first two days of the hearing, the reading of the Fiscal Hearing of the Public Ministry continued, reaching 238 of the 810 sheets (pages), detailing sworn statements of those involved where a former President of the Republic (2009- 2014) and their children, in addition to state ministers, who are accused of money laundering, detailing the creation of corporations to receive and transfer money and create projects where the money from the bribes given by Odebrecht circulated, also payments and deposits some for thousands and others for millions of dollars.
Payments and deposits that were also sent to banks in Andorra by several of these officials.
Likewise, mention was made in the reading of the Fiscal View of a law firm at the service of the Odebrecht construction company that paid payroll and created companies to transfer money in favor of this same firm.
The investigation of the Public Ministry details the payment of 59 million balboas by the Odebrecht construction company as bribes and 33 million of these deposited in accounts in different countries, in order to acquire the guarantee for the construction of projects in Panama.
This case was investigated for the crime Against the Economic Order, in the form of money laundering, typified in Book II, Title VII, Chapter IV of the Penal Code, which establishes a sentence of 5 to 12 years in prison (articles 254 and 255) and from 5 to 10 years (article 256) respectively.
