After 15 years of investigation and trial, the Third Criminal Settlement Chamber of the National Criminal Court The final phase of the very long process against the Sánchez Paredes family began, accused of an alleged crime of money laundering that they would have committed in the 1990s of the 20th century.
On Wednesday, January 4, in a virtual hearing, the superior deputy prosecutor Marlleny Morales Yataco began the presentation of her accusatory argument. against the brothers Orlando, Manuel and Fortunato Sánchez Paredes, their nephew Fidel Sánchez Alayo, the administrator of Compañía Minera Aurífera Santa Rosa (Comarsa), Jesús Esteves Ostoloza and seven mining, livestock and transport companies.
It is expected that the Settlement Criminal Chamber, made up of the judges, Juan Santillán Tuesta, Máximo Maguiña Castro and Francisco Mendoza Aymadeliver the final verdict next March or April, although that will depend on how the hearings progress.
After the intervention of the prosecutor’s office, the attorney general’s office and the defense lawyers of each of the accused will speak. The court has scheduled three hearings a week, each lasting four hours.
The proof
Morales Yataco has used the first four sessions to discuss the charges against Orlando Sánchez and, apparently, he will continue with him for a couple more hearings.
The work of the prosecutor’s office and the attorney general’s office is quite complicated, it goes uphill. They must get the judges to believe in the guilt of the defendants, despite the fact that the evidence says the opposite, that is, there is no equity imbalance and no money laundering.
Let’s see. Due to the time elapsed between the alleged commission of the crime (1991) and the beginning of the investigation (December 2007), the main and, almost only, proof of the prosecution and the defense are the accounting and economic expert reports..
This is precisely what has delayed the process. The investigation began in December 2007 at the express request of the late former president Alan García. The public trial began on January 11, 2017, that is, six years ago. At that time the Third Criminal Settlement Chamber was called collegiate “E”.
Most of these six years of hearings were used by the prosecutor’s office and the attorney general’s office to seek to distort the 35 expert opinions that they themselves or the defense attorneys had ordered to be carried out in previous years.
The expert reports cover economic and financial examinations from the 50s of the 20th century to the year 2007 of the 21st century.. A period of great economic, financial, accounting and monetary changes in the country, of which little documentation is preserved.
For this reason, the accounting experts evaluated the income and expenses of the years where physical documents can be obtained, while the economists examined the years where there is no possible documentation, but official economic data is available.
The prosecution accuses the Sánchez Paredes of having founded and developed the Santa Rosa Gold Mining Company (Comarsa), with income from drug trafficking in Peru and Mexico, based on the fact that Simón and Perciles Sanchez Paredesmurdered in 1987 and 1991, respectively, would have been involved in illicit drug trafficking.
Simón Sánchez died in Mexico and was never investigated for drug trafficking. Percyles died in Peru, some time after the Supreme Court of Justice acquitted him of drug trafficking charges. None of them left a physically verifiable fortune, much to the complication of the investigators.
Balance in favor
The Sánchez Paredes have indicated that their fortune arose from fishing activities, interprovincial transport, real estate, sale and distribution of beer and other products, real estate, vehicles and, later, bank loans.
Based on this, the expert reports sought to answer whether it was possible that the Sánchez Paredes have worked in the aforementioned activities, that they have been doing so since the 1950s, and whether they were able to generate enough income to have a personal fortune.
All the expert reports, including those prepared by the police, the prosecutor’s office and the attorney general’s office, answered this question in the affirmative: they did have legal work and economic activities and sufficient income. Although they differ in the amounts, from the periods examined or the documents taken into account, for the analysis.
In 2010, an accounting report prepared by officers of the Anti-Drug Police Directorate, Commander Héctor Beltran Acosta and Major Inmer Peña Robles, concluded with a favorable difference, in the case of Orlando Sánchez, of only 7,000 soles, which would be insufficient, they said, to invest in mining.
But, the policemen only investigated the period 1991 to 1995, based on a table of income and expenses, although they had been asked to do it until 2007.
A) Yes, An official survey carried out in October 2011 by the experts Helldy Vizcarra Pineda and Iván Peña Avendaño concluded that Orlando Sánchez Paredes presents a favorable balance, from 1959 to 1990 of US$ 15,466,585.92..
Another expert opinion concluded that between 1959 and 1976, Orlando Sánchez had income of US$292,095, which allowed him to carry out trade, construction, and transportation activities, with which, on December 31, 1990, he had benefits of US$3,136. ,999.16 to invest in Comarsa.
For his part, in August 2017, expert accountant Luis Castillo de la Cuba concluded that between 1959 and 1990, Orlando Sánchez “has had an economic activity that has allowed him to establish a personal patrimony and economic situation” that although it cannot be determined for accounting purposes due to lack of documentation, if it is possible to reconstruct economically, scientifically.
Expert opinion
In November 2021, The judges of the Settlement Chamber ordered the expert reports on Orlando Sánchez to carry out their own expert reports to determine if they had complied with the scientific guidelines and had economic and accounting support..
In July 2022, the economic experts Carmen de la Rivera Ramírez and Víctor Cabello Reynoso concluded that in the period between 1959 and 1990, Orlando Sánchez had a final balance of 4,758,491.74 dollars, which at the currency exchange rate at the time was 2,569,585.54. Suns.
In July 2022, the official experts Carlos Melitón Núñez Espíritu and César Eduardo Bácilo Olazabal ratified that there is scientific support to maintain that Orlando Sánchez Paredes had a favorable initial balance (1991) of 2.5 million soles and by 2007 a surplus. of 17,440 952.29 million dollars.
There are 37 expert opinions
one. The prosecution offered as accounting expert evidence for trial 12 accounting reports prepared by Dirandro officials and two other economic reports referring to Santos Orlando and Manuel Sánchez, prepared by economists Julio Moreno Vargas and Edgar Elorrieta.
2. The attorney’s office offered as economic expert evidence two economic reports referring to Orlando and Manuel Sánchez Paredes.
3. The defense offered as new evidence three economic expert reports prepared by economic experts on behalf of the natural persons Orlando, Fortunato and Manuel Sánchez. In addition, 12 accounting expert reports prepared by party experts, with respect to natural persons and legal persons.
4. The defense also offered as evidence in Trial four forensic expert reports prepared by the company Marcum Rachlin in consortium with Baker & Tilly, related to Santos Orlando and Fortunato Wilmer Sánchez Paredes, as well as in relation to the companies COMARSA and POMISPA.
5. The Court ordered that an official expertise be carried out, by Víctor Cabello Reinoso and Norka de la Rivera, regarding the natural person Santos Orlando Sánchez Paredes. In addition, another expertise by public accountants Carlos Melitón Núñez Espiritu and César Eduardo Basilio Olazabal, also regarding Orlando Sánchez.
