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Former police chief Ricardo Ramírez del Cid and his wife will have to sign in at the court every 15 days and will be prohibited from leaving the country.
A criminal court in matters of Organized Crime, Environment and Corruption issued this Monday an order of formal prosecution with precautionary measures other than prison for the former director of the National Police, Ricardo Ramírez del Cid and his wife Thelma Umaña , accused of the crime of money laundering to the detriment of the State.
According to the information provided by the spokesperson for the Judiciary , Lucía Villars, during the initial hearing the parties presented different means of evidence. Subsequently, the judge who is hearing the case issued the respective order of formal prosecution.
He also indicated that both Ramírez del Cid and his wife will have to comply with the precautionary measures of remaining under surveillance and care of their legal representatives.
They must also sign in court every 15 days a ban on leaving the country and present a bond in favor of the Honduran State for more than 7 million lempiras.
However, the Judiciary reported that if the parties do not agree with the ruling, they will have three business days to file an appeal.
Otherwise, a preliminary hearing will take place in the coming days with the aim of elevating the case to oral and public trial.
Case against Ramirez del Cid
The former police chief and his wife were returned from Spain last week and subsequently held in a special unit of the National Police in Tegucigalpa.
According to the official version, between 2007 and 2016 Ramírez made financial movements for around 37.7 million lempiras , of which he has not been able to justify 26.7 million lempiras.
For her part, Ramírez’s wife has not been able to justify 1.4 million lempiras from 3 financial transactions totaling more than 2 million lempiras.
Before being transferred to the Organized Crime Court, Ramírez told reporters that he had faced “a difficult process” and that “the lawyers had to document everything to prove” that he was “clean” and that he was “going to face the charges.”
He said that the Public Prosecutor’s Office is accusing him “arbitrarily of money laundering,” but he assured that he can justify the origin of all his assets.
“I know what I have, I know what I have done and I don’t have to feel ashamed. If I hadn’t come (to Honduras) it’s because it’s a long job where you have to document a lot of paperwork,” stressed the former head of the Honduran police, who along with his wife had asylum in Spain.
Regarding the assets seized from him by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2021, the former head of the Honduran Police said that “they have been destroyed.”
The former head of the Honduran Police was dismissed from office in May 2012 by former President Porfirio Lobo (2010-2014), at a time when it became known that an agent was implicated in the kidnapping and murder of journalist Alfredo Villatoro.
