Alessia Genoves
contributor
The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) seeks to strengthen the crime of ideological falsehood against former public transportation businessman Catalino Miranda, accused of presenting false documentation to obtain a loan of more than 2 million dollars. A special hearing will be held on Saturday in the Fifth Court of Instruction of San Salvador to appoint a permanent expert who will analyze the finances of Miranda’s companies.
Miranda was already sentenced to three years in prison for public disorder and selling at a higher price, while his son Adalberto Miranda received the same sentence for the crime of illegally raising the price of transportation fares, in accordance with the resolution established by the Court. Third of Sen Salvador.
Expert in case of ideological falsehood
According to the FGR, at the hearing this Saturday the judge will establish the points that the permanent expert proposed by the prosecution must investigate. The objective is to demonstrate that Catalino Miranda’s companies did not meet the financial profile to obtain the million-dollar loans that he obtained, allegedly with falsified documentation.
“This expert opinion seeks to prove that Mr. Catalino Miranda’s companies did not meet the sufficient financial profile to access these credits; and that, then, the documentation presented has been falsified,” explained a prosecutor from the Specialized Unit against Money Laundering.
According to the investigations, Miranda committed the crime of ideological falsehood in the real bankruptcy modality in December 2020 by presenting unreal financial information to process the large loan. The preliminary hearing for this case is scheduled for the end of October.
In his arguments, Miranda has denied the accusations and has questioned the judicial process against him. “To set an example they have grabbed me and sent an example at the national level that the State is strict and that is what will happen to everyone, but a bad example because in the rule of law this situation does not work like that, in a state of right is respected,” he declared to the press.
Miranda and her son convicted of disorders
In May 2022, Catalino Miranda pleaded guilty in an abbreviated process and was sentenced to 3 years in prison for the crimes of public disorder and sale of services at a higher price by the Third Sentencing Court of San Salvador.
The FGR detailed that he was sentenced to 1 year in prison for selling the transportation service at a price higher than the legally established one, while the other 2 years are for obstructing public roads with protests by transporters in March 2022. On that occasion, Miranda challenged policies to stabilize fares.
For his part, Catalino Miranda’s son, Adalberto Miranda Zepeda, was found guilty this year of the same crime of selling at a higher price and sentenced to 3 years in prison by the 3rd Sentencing Court. Adalberto Miranda is considered a fugitive from justice, after this sentence.
Signs of money and asset laundering
In September 2022, the FGR raided 5 properties owned by Catalino Miranda to investigate possible cases of money and asset laundering. In the properties they found evidence of transactions between the businessman’s companies that apparently covered up illegal activities.
“Financial and legal information has been found for the companies Acostes de RL, Acostes SA de CV, Fosatrans; Capur SA de CV, Acofancu SA de CV; Popular Finance of RL; Acotesmi SA de CV and, likewise, personal information of Mr. Catalino Miranda,” the FGR detailed about the findings in the raids.
According to the Law against Money and Asset Laundering, depositing, transferring or converting funds related to criminal activities to hide their illicit origin is punishable by penalties of 5 to 15 years in prison and fines of up to 2,500 minimum wages.
The prosecution will maintain the hypothesis that “through its companies it has carried out actions related to the crime of money and asset laundering, through the installation of different businesses, dedicated to different areas of commerce.”
Open letter to Bukele
The daughters of businessman Catalino Miranda asked, through an open letter to President Nayib Bukele, they asked for clemency.
“We address you very respectfully, we Beatriz, Olga and Selena Miranda, daughters of Catalino Miranda… to ask you to evaluate the serious health situation that our father faces, as described by the medical studies carried out by internal and palliative medicine at the Hospial. National Zacamil and the National Hospital of San Salvador Rosales.”
“Our father has been diagnosed with a tumor in his right kidney and lung nodules,” says the letter from Miranda’s daughters, so they request that they be allowed to “provide him with adequate treatment.”
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