House arrest request denied

PANAMÁ. The Second Court of Justice confirmed the decision that the sentence of disgraced former manager of Panama National Bank Rafael Arosemena would be fulfilled, despite Arosemena's claims of health problems.

The ruling also confirmed that Arosemena's request of home arrest would not be considered.

Arosemena is currently serving 60 months in prison for extorting 14 million of dollars of state funds to his personal account.

He has also been sentenced to a series of daily fines. Arosemena will be fined $100 dollars daily for 100 days, ending with a total sum of $10,000 paid back to the National Treasury.

Yesterday, the Penal Circuit Second Court denied Arosmena's request.

Expert medical testimony found that Arosmena was not in current immediate danger while he served his sentence in El Renacer prison.

This, of course, is not the first time Arosemena has claimed that he is too ill to deal with the legal system.

Arosemena had similar claims denied during his trial and sentencing. He also had a request for house arrest granted in 2007, only to return to prison a year later.

The confirmation of the decision came from magistrate Elvia Batiste, who established that Arosemena should not have expected to "appeal to a benevolent Panamanian state" to rule against "the crime of a millionaire, which not only effected state departments, but a sum of other programs."

The decision, apart from Magistrate Jeronimo Mejia, who abstained from voting, all members of the court ruled that Arosemena's sentence would be served in prison, rather than under home arrest.