Court finds ex-minister Massa guilty of double harassment and acquits him of charges

Former health minister Guillermo Massa Prisuela and eight others were acquitted this Friday of allegations of corruption in the reconstruction of San Vicente and Usuluttan hospitals because a third sentencing court ruled that the attorney general’s office had not proven guilty and prosecuted them.

In the case of former Minister Massa Priscilla, the judges considered that he had already been prosecuted for arbitrary acts, but with the same facts.

“There is a dual criminal case because there is already a penalty of arbitrary acts for the same facts,” the Chief Justice of the Court said.

He added, “This Court considers that the principle of innocence provided by the Constitution has not been destroyed. It is concluded that there is no objective basis for declaring a release. “

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After hearing the verdict in his favor, Massa Priscilla said he was “delighted” that justice had been done. When they asked me what I expected, I told them that I always expected a fair trial and that was what I thought was done now. “

His defense attorney, Mario Machado, said: “From the beginning we believed that Dr. Massa was innocent, and unfortunately the people who were to be judged in this process were not given a verdict. The doctor’s innocence has been proven again. We trust the system. ”

Prosecutors in the case said they would seek to rescind the release of legal evidence provided by law in favor of Massa Prizuela.

“The prosecutor’s office has always respected judicial decisions, and they are consistent, but that does not mean that we share the judges’ decisions. For us, we are going to file an appeal because we had a criminal offense, if there is scientific, financial, evidence to prove it,” said one of the lawyers. .

As for the court’s argument that it was a double trial, the attorneys assured, “The attorney’s office has never credited the facts or changes to the work site. At the public hearing, he was accused of concluding a compromise agreement with CBK, with Gerardo Enrique Oseguada, who agreed to a compromise. ”

Former health minister San Pedro has been accused of illegally negotiating the renovation of the Usuluttan Hospital.

A further 10 people have been charged with corruption in the construction and equipment of Usuluttan and San Vicente hospitals. They were charged with illegal negotiations, gross fraud, and ideological lying.

Attorney Rolando Garcia, legal representative for CPK; And engineer Ricardo Pereira was sentenced to 4 years and six months in prison, respectively, for the illegal acts committed during the reconstruction of Usuluttan Hospital.

“As part of the CPK Consultants firm, it has been proven that there was a fraud in the state of El Salvador by the Ministry of Health,” one of the lawyers said.

Attorney Garcia certified “continuous tax credit, which was a fraud so that the Ministry of Health could provide that funding. Engineer (Parera) who took part in the work of inserting misinformation in the estimates that contributed to this fraud case ”.

Ernesto Garcia, the bodyguard of German businessman Gehard Rudolf Bolman, said prosecutors could not prove with evidence that his client had provided documents to defraud the health ministry.

The Attorney General’s Office has confirmed that the defendants’ crimes amounted to $ 1,052,043.77, and $ 4,090,052.80 for a total of $ 5.1 million for the U.S. Department of Corrections, derived from the abuses found in the construction of San Vicente Hospital.

In the final arguments of the trial, the prosecutor’s office asked that the other defendants be sentenced to eight years in prison and six to ten years in prison.

Mario Machado, Masa’s bodyguard, assured the inquiry that the former health minister had signed the reports only with the recommendations made by technicians and project officials.