Preventive prison for Salvadoran ex-prosecutor for new crimes of corruption
The former attorney general of El Salvador Luis Martínez (2012-2015), accused of 15 crimes of corruption, was sent today to preventive detention, after concluding the initial hearing against him in the case called "Operation Corruptela".
The head of the Fourth Court of Peace of San Salvador, Nelly Pozas, based her verdict on the investigation that determines that Martínez led, allegedly, a network of corruption when he was attorney general, favoring the former president of the Government Mauricio Funes (2009-2014) and the businessman Enrique Rais.
Both Funes and Rais, claimed by different courts in El Salvador accused of various crimes, are fugitives from justice.
According to the Attorney General's Office, Martinez received $ 935,000 from Funes to prevent him from investigating the controversial gang truce that was established during the former president's term, currently isolated in Nicaragua.
Next to Martinez, the former chief prosecutor Julio Arriaza, who was also involved in "Operation Corruptela" for eight crimes, was sent to preventive detention, while another 13 people accused of the same case were released pending the next phase.
Of these 13 people, only two, including the wife of the ex-prosecutor, Francesca de Martínez, are subject to "substitute measures" and must be presented weekly in court.
In the same situation as Martínez's spouse, Mauricio Yanes, former general manager of the Prosecutor's Office, remains.
According to the prosecutors in the case, there are indications that the one who was head of the Public Prosecutor's Office between 2012 and 2015 incurred in the crimes of documentary falsification, money blaming and omission of investigations, illegal acts that are added to other processes that Martinez faces in other courts .
One of the most famous cases for which the ex-prosecutor is prosecuted is the disclosure of reserved material, when allegedly using private conversations by Spanish priest Antonio Rodríguez, for his role as an intermediary between the country's government and gangs in the year. 2014.
The accumulation of proceedings against Martinez was the reason why the judge in the case decreed preventive detention and did not grant freedom with measures.
Those involved in the "Operation Corruptela" will face in the following phases of the process, whose dates are not defined, various crimes of corruption, among which are considered illicit enrichment, bribery, embezzlement and appropriation of public funds, among others.
