The Fourteenth Peace Court of San Salvador, ruled that the former Minister of Public Works, David Gutiérrez, continue to be prosecuted in the second stage of the criminal case without any measure.

After resolving by hearing the request (reviewing the process), the court has enabled the Prosecutor’s Office to expand the investigations and collect new evidence so that it can be presented at the preliminary hearing in an investigative court in the capital.

The Specialized Unit for Crimes of Corruption of the Attorney General of the Republic attributes the crime of embezzlement (appropriating public funds) to having omitted the verification of compliance with phase two of Monseñor Romero Boulevard.

The irregularities that the public ministry attributes to Gutiérrez occurred during one of the ARENA governments, between December 2005 and January 2007, when he guaranteed payments for work not carried out in the design and construction of the opening of the boulevard.

According to the fiscal representation, the project was suspended for months, but the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) continued to make payments for progress of the work to the temporary association Copreca Linares, who was represented by the Guatemalan Jesús Hernández Campollo, for whom at the time they issued an arrest warrant.

In the indictment filed, prosecutors say that David Gutiérrez paid the aforementioned associate $13,723,132. 60, which is why they have started the civil action to pay that money to the state.