Three individuals who received aid from IFARHU during the 2019-2020 period have been charged. One is accused of aggravated embezzlement, while the other two are charged with public corruption in the form of bribery. According to the Attorney General, Azucena Aizpurú, the funds awarded—ranging from 19,000 to 100,000 balboas per beneficiary—were provided as support for studies. The investigation found that in at least one case, the use of the funds was not justified, and in the other two, there were transfers to the personal accounts of the former director of the entity, Bernardo Meneses. The court imposed on the accused the precautionary measure of monthly reporting and the obligation to maintain their registered residence, while the process advances. This episode adds to a much larger case: with these three charges, the case now involves 22 people under investigation for alleged crimes of embezzlement, corruption, and bribery linked to the IFARHU aid program. The prosecution recalled that the investigation was declared a "complex case," and that nearly a thousand files from the period under investigation still need to be reviewed to determine if there were more irregular disbursements that affected public funds intended for education.
