crime

Judge releases accused money launderers

Víctor Arosemena/la prensa

Defendant: Ricardo Traad Porras has been released.990680

The decision by the Juzgado Cuarto Penal to grant probation to six of the 13 people involved in the Perseus V case, among them former director of the Servicio Marítimo Nacional (SMN) Ricardo Traad, brings to 15 the total number of defendants in money laundering from drug trafficking cases that the courts have released this year, citing a lack of evidence or ruling that preventive detention was unnecessary, though recommended by the prosecuting attorney for drug cases.

The 13 defendants are accused of illegally selling a ton of scrap that was on board the boat Perseus V, which was captured by the United States Navy in January 2006 and found with a thousand kilograms of cocaine. The 13 people released by the judge are Ricardo Traad, Eduardo Morales, Edilberto Moon and Roberto Fierro, all former officials of the SMN; and Rogelio Pinate, Luis Machado, Isaac Btesh, Luz Nunez, Christine of Btesh, Wilfredo Gonzalez, Jodgelly Joy, and John Villamizar Oswaldo Hernandez. The precautionary measure, which must be presented to the Segundo Tribunal Superior, and which were appealed by the Ministerio Público benefit Traad, Morales, Pinate, Moon, Machado and Btesh.

The other case in which the court granted freedom to those accused of money laundering involves the so-called Divino Niño network, which laundered $32 million in drug money in Panama between Oct. 2004 and Feb. 2005. On Jan. 23, Judge Ruben Royo sentenced five of the eight defendants in that case to between three and five years in prison and acquitted the other three for lack of evidence. The latter are the Colombians Ana Rocio Acosta and Reinaldo Luque, Colombians, and Farid Bhana, a Panamanian lawyer. Another 26 people accused in the case have not been prosecuted because they are still at large.

Finally, antidrug prosecutors suffered another setback this year in a case involving 16 ringleaders of a Panamanian group engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering, from whom $30 million in assets were seized by the State.

In January, Judge Manuel Correa ordered the release of six of the accused, including Oscar Eraso of the Policía Nacional, who was later dismissed from the force. All had been accused of conspiracy, money laundering and drug possession, but the judge found that there was a lack of evidence against them. The Ministerio Público appealed.