Cuba Money Laundering Case Verdicts
By Circles Robinson
HAVANA TIMES, July 6 — A Havana court has found a French businessman guilty of money laundering, trafficking of foreign exchange and tax evasion, and eight Cuban accomplices of falsifying documents and bribery, reports the official Cuban press on Wednesday.
The prosecution is asking for a 15-year sentence for Jean-Louis Autret and between three and seven years in prison for the Cubans convicted.
The trial took place behind closed doors between June 28 and July 2. Autret, who has lived in Cuba for over a decade, has reportedly has been in jail since 2009. He was represented by a Cuban defense attorney.
The Cubans convicted of falsifying documents and bribery are María Collazo González, Juan Carlos Hechevarría Aguilar, José Diosdado Romero Basulto, Daymís Daisy Toriza del Valle, Jesús Alberto Zaldívar Ochoa, Yaíma Sáliva Castellanos, Yizza Lassalle Marino and Delia Rosa Rosales Leyva.
Details on the business dealings of Autret in Cuba were not revealed in the press report.
The case is the latest in a long string of corruption cases involving Cuban institutions and joint venture businesses to be brought to trial under President Raul Castro.
Good, lock those people up throw away the key and get the rest.