Odebrecht Hearing: Expert Lim Faces Scrutiny

On the tenth day of hearings, expert Lim had to constantly refer to his report to answer the defense's questions. According to lawyer Alejandro Pérez, this attitude denotes a lack of knowledge and poor handling of the data he supposedly analyzed. He mentioned that when questioned by the defense, Lim stated that he is not accredited as an auditor, meaning he is not an expert as declared by the prosecution. Therefore, it is crucial that the right to a fair trial and due process be respected during Rodríguez Araúz's appearance. Lawyers for the defense have repeatedly emphasized to Judge Marquínez the importance of the former police officer appearing to testify and support the accusations in the case against their clients. 'Damaris must appear, sit down, and face the country and the lawyers who are only asking for due process, equality of the parties, and respect for the principle of contradiction,' he stressed. This Friday, the Odebrecht case hearing will resume with high expectations for Rodríguez Araúz's possible attendance, after the court issued a third summons to her last Tuesday, February 10th. 'He spent the entire time reading the report when an expert should be able to substantiate and refer to it with very specific data such as company names, amounts, among others,' noted the lawyer. Subsequently, the hearing transcript will be prepared, and the judge will have 30 days to issue her ruling. Regarding the use of these 'evidences', Roniel Ortiz indicated that the division where Lim worked was dedicated exclusively to preparing police reports that, according to Law No. 83 of 2008, in force in the country since 2011, are not admissible as evidence in a trial; therefore, a violation of regulations would be incurred. One of the main pillars of the prosecution in the Odebrecht case is the report of expert Antonio Lim, a former official of the DIJ's Division of Crimes Against the Public Administration. When appearing before the Tribunal, he demonstrated his unpreparedness to produce such a significant document, admitting he had not verified the information obtained from social networks and the media before including it in the report. This shows it was not prepared impartially, nor were financial and accounting statements analyzed for its creation. His conclusions are based on police reports from third parties, including Damaris Rodríguez Araúz, a former colleague of the institution who lacks accounting training; therefore, her assessments are not technical, but superficial. The defense lawyers have reiterated on more than one occasion to Judge Marquínez the importance of the former police officer attending to give her statement to support the accusations weighing against her clients. 'Damaris must appear, sit down, and face the country, and the lawyers who are only asking for due process, equality of the parties, and respect for the principle of contradiction,' he underlined. This Friday's session, after several suspensions and recesses, would complete the phase of expert and witness testimony to begin with the closing arguments, which could extend until the last week of the month.