The judge of the National Court Joaquín Gadea has ordered this Thursday the imprisonment of former judge Fernando Presencia for directing an organization aimed at his own illicit enrichment and that of some of his closest collaborators through the dissemination of false news. The magistrate appreciates risks of flight and criminal reiteration in the actions of the former judge.
Presencia was arrested yesterday Wednesday by the National Police, hours after he did not show up for his appointment with Judge Gadea to testify for the new crimes of money laundering and seizure of property that he is accused of and today he has gone to court.
Gadea’s order places Presencia at the apex of said organization, the Association against Corruption and in Defense of Public Action (Acodap), and explains that by losing his status as magistrate in 2016 he also lost his main source of income, which which, according to the magistrate, moved the person under investigation to devise a criminal structure with which to obtain funds for his expenses.
In addition to the crimes that he attributes to those investigated in this case, the instructor adds for Presence those of money laundering and frustration of the execution. The judge bases himself on the bank information collected during the investigation, which makes it possible to verify that Presencia would have used the funds obtained illegally and knowing that they originated from criminal activity.
For the judge, it is also significant that despite the agreed embargoes, the person investigated has tried to evade their effectiveness “carrying out acts of disposition aimed at redirecting the patrimonial income generated by the contributions to Acodap, through the use of intermediaries or the opening of accounts abroad.
The order considers that there are causes that allow the adoption of the prison measure, such as the risk of escape and criminal repetition. Gadea recalls that the person under investigation did not appear yesterday at the judicial appeal “eviding his intention to hinder judicial work.” An obstative will that has been, says the judge, evident during the processing of the procedure, so the risk of flight is the first reason that justifies a measure as serious as imprisonment.
The magistrate states that, after listening to Presencia in his statement today, the person under investigation continues to believe that he is an active magistrate. “It is striking to contemplate the aplomb in which this position is sustained, despite the two convictions that have already been handed down, without him feeling in the least linked to the agreement of the General Council of the Judiciary that says otherwise. The most striking thing is that this status as a magistrate is linked to an aura of impunity, which is especially inconsistent with who he finds himself in front of an association that intends to fight against corruption ”.
As stated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in his appearance, Gadea points out, the person investigated takes refuge in the status of magistrate to seek immunity that not even the Head of State has, and intends to evade any kind of responsibility by covering himself with the cloak of his status as magistrate .
He considers that there is also a risk of criminal reiteration since, after a year of initiating the procedure, the criminal mechanism is still fully operational without the repeated attempts to prevent the criminal commission having borne fruit. Remember, also, that Acodap, despite the seizure of its accounts or the suspension of the association, continues to advertise as such and raise funds from an account in Lithuania and hosted on another server.
