As part of a money laundering case against 18 Mexicans who impersonated journalists for the Televisa television network in Nicaragua, Judge Edgard Altamirano allowed the phone records of the supposed leader of the group, Raquel Alatorre Correa, to be admitted as evidence, according to the website Sin Embargo.
A report from the Nicaraguan Directorate of Economic Investigations said that the accused made 249 calls to 20 telephone numbers between July and August. The majority of the calls were made to a contact listed as Amador Narcia Estrada, a vice president for Televisa, who has denied any involvement in the case. Authorities could not identify the calls to two other numbers in Mexico, according to El Nuevo Diario.
On Aug. 20, Nicaraguan authorities discovered $9.2 million hidden in six trucks bearing the Televisa logo that carried the 18 Mexicans who impersonated television reporters. The case against the suspects began on Monday, Dec. 10, and will resume on Tuesday, Dec. 18. The Televisa network categorically denied that any trucks it owned were involved in the incident or that the suspects worked for the network.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
