The former first lady, Ana Legia de Saka, was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for laundering $17.6 million of the $301 million that her husband Elias Antonio Saca stole from the coffers of the Presidency of the Republic, according to the lawyer. General office.

The verdict was handed down by the Fourth Court, which also sentenced Oscar Edgardo Mixco Sol, Anna Ligia’s brother, to ten years in prison; and seven years to Milton Romeo Avilés Cruz, who was the external auditor of the Samix group.

The attorney general’s office attributed the three to laundering $17.6 million in public funds.

Five former employees of the State Intelligence Agency (OIE) have been acquitted of the money laundering crime.

You can see: Gallery – The glamorous political life led by Ana Legia de Saka, the former first lady who was convicted of money laundering

The Attorney General’s Office at trial requested that the former First Lady; His brother Oscar Edgardo and the five other defendants were sentenced to 15 years in prison.

However, the three judges voted by split. The head of the court voted on the seven defendants, according to judicial sources.

The two judges who make up the court were also criteria for convicting Anna Ligia, her brother, and the auditor; As well as the declaration of innocence of former OIE employees.

Thus, the latter was acquitted of the criminal charges by the judges’ ruling in their favour, according to judicial sources.

The presiding judge explained in the judgment reading that he had given credence to the statements of three convicted witnesses (with criminal merits) and Jorge Hernandez to make his decision.

He added that he did not take into account the documentary evidence provided by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

After learning of the verdict, the three convicts were transferred to Bartolinas at the Isidro Menendez Judicial Center, while the authorities of the penitentiary centers determine the prisons where they will be held.

One of the prosecutors said the conviction was against the former first lady, her brother and the auditor; It was the product of evidence presented at trial.

“It was possible to establish the participation and the existence of the crime, that is, the expropriation of those funds from the state and the use of a mechanism to launder those funds,” the prosecutor said.

He added, “It was an embezzlement of an account used by the former president Saka, he stripped it through bank accounts created for this purpose from the presidential staff, and it reached various advertising companies until it reached the advertising companies. Mr. Saka.”

Regarding civil liability, the attorney general confirmed that they had asked the court to sentence the three of them to pay $17.6 million, but that judges would decide how much they would have to return to the state.

Miguel Flores Dorel, defender of Ana Legia de Saka, has confirmed that they will appeal the court’s decision to order her remand.

“In this particular case, the decision was taken as a precautionary measure of provisional detention, when according to the law it was not the right thing to do because the prosecutor’s office did not ask for it in the end,” Flores Durrell said.

He added that after receiving the conviction in writing, they would have five working days to demand that Anna Ligia’s imprisonment be rescinded with the intent of keeping her free, as long as the sentence is not declared final or overturned.

“The decision is not final and admits the appeal, and the court has already said that until the 29th of this month, there is likely to be a ruling, and therefore, the only thing that can be attacked immediately is provisional detention,” Flores Durrell said.

“What is appropriate in law, is to attack the decision to hold him (pre-trial detention) through appeal, and for this we have five working days to say that without basis the decree of pre-trial detention was issued at this time and in one person.” If he is said to be the bearer of a collective subject,” he said.

Flores Durrell confirmed during the process that there is a double criminal trial, because his clients acted without fraud, and added that former President Saka is responsible for looting $ 301 million from the coffers of the Presidency of the Republic, as he admitted in his trial and a public hearing against his wife where he testified as a defense witness.