The Guarantees Court declared the apprehension of deputy and former Pandeportes director Héctor Brands legal, upholding the operation in Clayton carried out under Operation Bavarians. Inside the courtroom, the Public Ministry revealed figures that became the center of the hearing: the alleged unjustified enrichment would amount to 3 million dollars, accumulated between 2021 and 2024. The Prosecutor's Office stated that Brands spent 28,883 balboas in a single day, a transaction that included the purchase of a gold bracelet valued at 10 thousand dollars. He walked down the hallway surrounded by the press, in silence, with eyes following him to the room where he would face hearings for alleged money laundering and unjustified enrichment. Hours earlier, lawyer Víctor Orobio was warning from the entrance to the courthouse that the process had to be supported with evidence — not with social noise or a media agenda — and demanded total clarity in access to the investigation file. A financial movement that —according to the investigators— did not match the income he reported. This was added to another argument from the Public Ministry to support the capture: Brands would have tried to travel to the United States, which for the prosecutors represented a flight risk and justified the urgency of the apprehension. The day had begun with an image that was etched in memory: the former deputy and director of Pandeportes arrived at the SPA with his head down, not showing his face and with teary eyes. He was still wearing the same pajama-type clothes he had on when he was arrested.
