Raúl De Saint Malo, brother of the former vice-president and former chancellor of Panama, Isabel De Saint Malo.has been convicted of money laundering and is trying to replace his five-year jail sentence with “community work” in the form of teaching at Panama’s Maritime University.

A hearing to address the request made by his defense lawyers will be at the headquarters of the Accusatory Criminal System (SPA), in Plaza Ágora, in the capital city on October 2

Debate and criticism of the system have  sprung up in legal and civil activist circles because, despite the sentence of five years in prison, De Saint Malo has not been arrested. His lawyers recently explained that all appeals must be resolved before proceeding..

His defense requested the replacement of the prison sentence with work as a teacher. He offered to provide services in a public university. This request was rejected because it did not meet all the requirements.

On Thursday September 4 a compliance judge gave the defense the October 2  deadline to submit the documents and make adjustments to their community work application.