MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – Former Panama Supreme Court judge Alejandro Moncada Luna has been sentenced to five years in prison on corruption charges, a representative of the investigative committee formed to look into Moncada's illicit enrichment has announced.
Katleen Levy announced the decision of the three-person committee made up of members of Congress on Thursday, marking the first time that an active Panama judge has been sent to prison.
Moncada rejected the accusations on Monday, but pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him on Thursday.
The ex-judge had been kept under house arrest since the three-member investigative committee suspended him in October. He will now serve his prison term in the same facility that former Panama dictator Manuel Noriega is kept in.
Alejandro Moncada Luna was appointed by former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli. He was due to serve in the Panama Supreme Court until 2020.