The Prosecutor Yeimy Adleof the Specialized Unit in Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption (UDEA) accused Antonia Gleano (41)for the alleged commission of the crimes of aggravated passive briberybribe) and influence peddling. He is credited with demanding payments of sums of money in exchange for achieving the installation of the electronic anklet to a drug defendant.
The person under investigation works as an official of the Statistical Section of the Palace of Justice of San Lorenzo, Central Judicial District.
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The prosecutor requested the application of the precautionary measure of house arrest and ironically, with the use of electronic anklet for monitoring compliance with the measure. In charge of this cause is the criminal court of guarantees Specialized in Economic Crimes of Humberto Otazú.
Galeano was arrested this Tuesday, in the morning, in the office of the San Lorenzo Courthouse, within the framework of a controlled delivery operation of G. 4,000,000 that were supposedly going to be distributed between an actuary, a judge and officials of the OMDEC of the Home Office.
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He demanded money in exchange for intermediating to obtain an anklet
According to data presented in the tax indictment, the judicial official Antonia Galeano would have offered herself as an intermediary before the officials of the criminal court of guarantees No. 1 of San Lorenzo, in charge of María Elena Cañete, so that Marcelo Fabián Peña Mancuello, prosecuted by Law No. 1,340/88, can benefit from the electronic anklet.
The Statistics official intervened because she is a neighbor of the house where the house arrest was to be carried out.
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In that context, Galeano would have demanded the sum of G. 7,000,000 to Marcelo Peña’s father, Concepción Peña, under the promise that he would obtain a lighter measure and a favorable report from the Office of Monitoring of Electronic Control Devices (OMDEC)so that he can count on the electronic anklet.
He April 27Concepción Peña denounced a request for a sum of money by a judicial official, in exchange for her son obtaining less burdensome measures than preventive detention. Thus, through the lawyer Vicente Rodríguez, they had requested reviews in which they were denied the change of precautionary measure on several occasions, and a new procedure was set for the April 21.
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It was before the first review hearing took place that Galeano offered to mediate. For this reason, the defendant’s father went to the official’s home and asked her if “there would be a cost” to which the woman told him “no one works for free,” but that she still did not know the price. The next day, via telephone, he told him that he had to deliver the sum of G. 6,000,000.
Official insisted on delivery of money
One day before the hearing, the complainant told Galeano that he was not able to raise the required money, that he only had G. 3,000,000to which the official would have accepted the amount and stated that she would tell the people at the court that the balance would be delivered to them in the afternoon.
However, on the day of the procedure, Antonia Galeano summoned the defendant’s father at 7:00, in a parking lot near the San Lorenzo court, next to a chapel to hand over the money. Upon arriving at the place, Concepción Peña gave Galeano the money that was in a colored bag with the inscription “Happy Birthday”.
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After that, Peña went to the court office. On that occasion, the lawyer requested the house arrest of Marcelo Peña, who was in Tacumbú, and the placement of the electronic anklet. The judge issued letter No. 857 to the Office of Monitoring of Electronic Control Devices (OMDEC) for the technical feasibility evaluation, a report that had to be sent within 24 hours.
Then Antonia Galeano contacted the defendant’s father again by telephone to ask for the sum of G. 1,000,000 more for the technical staff of OMDEC officials, in exchange for sending a positive report, otherwise the judge would reject the request.
The next day, at 11:24the OMDEC report was sent to the Court by Note No. 404/26 of April 22, and the defense lawyer requested a new hearing to review the measures that was set for April 24, when the court granted house arrest to Marcelo Peña.
Since then, Antonia Galeano insisted that the complainant hand over the balance, that is, the G. 4,000,000of which G. 3,000,000 They were for the court and the G. 1,000,000 for officials of the Ministry of the Interior, supposedly and according to the indictment.
These conversations would have been via telephone, through calls made between Antonia Galeano and the complainant, who with the help of her family members would have recorded the calls using other cell phones. Based on this, the monitored delivery procedure was carried out.
Court will await the report
In the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice, the head of the highest judicial instance, Minister Alberto Martínez Simón, requested an update on the case of the judicial official of San Lorenzo to which he informed him that there was no report sent to the highest judicial instance in this regard.
Given this situation, Martínez Simón announced that they will await a report on the accusation against the official and other information about the case to make a determination regarding the case.
