Supreme Court rejects appeal of ex-Minister in corruption case

The Supreme Court did not admit a protection of constitutional guarantees appeal presented on behalf of the former Minister of Labor Alma Cortés, prosecuted for the alleged crime of enrichment and corruption of public servants.

In a ruling on December 23 and under the presentation of magistrate Cecilio Cedalise, the plenary session of the Court did not accept the appeal presented in favor of Cortés, considering that it is intended to use the plenary session as one more judicial instance, to attack a ruling of the Second Superior Court of Justice that revoked a decision of the liquidated Fourth Criminal Court that declared null and void the process followed by the accused.

In the opinion of the magistrates, the case is notorious that the appeal was presented with the purpose of using the route to review the reasoning deployed by the Second Superior Court of Justice to revoke the ruling of the Fourth Criminal Court issued on the 14th of January 2020.

It emphasizes that the appeal filed by Cortés's defense seeks to carry out an interpretative exercise that leads to the review of the decision made by the Second Court.

The Court, at the same time, stressed that in this case no violation of the fundamental guarantees of the defendants was committed.

The Court's decision recalls that the presentation of the appeal proceeds as long as the damage is serious and imminent, that is to say, that no more than three months should have elapsed between the moment in which the contested act was notified and the presentation of the appeal.

The ruling also alleges that the appeal was filed one year after the ruling of the Second Court and that the procedural regulations state that appeals must be filed immediately, once the possible violation of a person's guarantees is known. 

2015 audit
The process began in 2015, based on an audit by the Comptroller General, which asked to investigate Cortés for alleged unjustified enrichment. The former minister is accused of having received two checks from the Foundation for Human and Environmental Development.

The investigation is based on the fact that Bolívar Espino allegedly wrote her checks for $17,000 and $16,000 as a representative of the Foundation for Human and Environmental Development. Likewise, Alvarado Santos, who also acted as a representative of that foundation, deposited two checks for $16,000 that were endorsed by Osiris Herrera and deposited in the accounts of the former minister.

 Cortés's defense alleges that the nullity of the proceedings should have been maintained since the prosecution carried out proceedings after the investigation period had expired