Former federal judge Walter Bentowill remain imprisoned in the Cacheuta prison, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza. The criminal court that is trying him for bribery and illicit enrichment rejected a request by his lawyers to grant him house arrest and await the resolution of the trial at his home in the private neighborhood of Palmares.
The Federal Oral Court 2 of Mendoza decided that the former judge will continue to be detained in the Federal Penitentiary Complex 6 of Cacheuta, with police and other officials imprisoned, 40 kilometers from the city of Mendoza, on the road to the high mountain range.
Bento entered the prison on November 8 when the Jury of Prosecution of the Council of the Magistracy of the Nation decided to remove him from his position as a judge, for poor performance of his duties, lack of decorum in his function and for having "dishonored Justice."
After his dismissal, Bento lost his immunity and the court that tried him in Mendoza for 15 criminal cases, enforced the arrest warrants against him. The former judge is accused of granting procedural favors to smugglers and drug traffickers in exchange for money, cars and property.
The proposal of the defense lawyers Mariano Fragueiro Frías and Felipe Salvarezza to obtain house arrest was the serious disability suffered by one of the sons of the former magistrate and the impossibility of Bento's wife, Marta Boiza, to take care of the 29-year-old alone.
Prosecuted family
The other two sons, Luciano and Nahuel Bento, and the wife of the former judge and their mother, are being prosecuted in the same mega-case. All were working in the federal courts of Mendoza when the investigation against them began.
The judges of Oral Court 2, Gretel Diamante, Eliana Rattá and Carolina Pereira, argued in the rejection of the request for house arrest that the family has enough support in their environment to collaborate in the care of the son who suffers from cerebral palsy.
"It is noted that the mother has a direct family of support such as Facundo's adult brothers, Nahuel (31) and Luciano (29), who are in a position to collaborate with the care and attention of their brother in the absence of their father, especially in those tasks that require greater physical effort," says the opinion.
And the judges of the court pointed out that, in addition, there is a risk that the former magistrate could hinder the development of the case and the trial: "With conduct that seeks to destroy, modify, conceal, suppress or falsify elements of evidence; attempt to ensure the benefit of the offence or the continuation of its execution; harassing or threatening victims or witnesses; influencing witnesses or experts to give false information or to behave in a disloyal or reticent manner; inducing or directing others to engage in such behaviors, even if they do not engage in them."
The crime that uncovered the scandal
The murder of a former Customs broker and police informant in July 2020 opened an investigation in which evidence and testimonies appeared that placed Bento as the leader of a gang that asked for bribes in exchange for procedural benefits from smugglers and drug traffickers.
Bento is accused of being the head of an illicit association, 15 acts of active bribery, prevarication, omission and delay of justice, illicit enrichment, money laundering, ideological falsehood (2 facts), abuse of authority (10 facts), disobedience and concealment of an object intended to serve as evidence (his official telephone number).
Also charged with him are his wife Marta Boiza, two of his three sons (Nahuel and Luciano) and 30 other people, including some lawyers, police officers and smugglers.
The ruling of the Council of the Magistracy that expelled him from the Justice, clarified that, in the case of the son with a disability, and when his father loses his position, the young man continues to receive as an exception the affiliation to the social work of judicial employees to continue with his medical treatments.