And in a related story, last week we told you about disciplinary charges being brought against two police officers for soliciting a bribe of one thousand dollars. One of those officers is Corporal Carlos Choco - who as you just saw was made a key eyewitness in the surveillance video of the Budna kidnapping.
But Corporal Choco was also implicated in a complaint where a detained man, Hector Rios alleged that he and a constable shook him down for a thousand dollars when he was detained for harm.
As we reported last week, they were brought up on disciplinary charges which were to be heard today. But, reliable sources tell 7News that the matter did not proceed today; there was no arraignment. We are told that instead there was an intervention from the senior ranks, and, with that, the charge seems to have been put on the backburner, maybe permanently.
That's bad news for the complainant Mr Rios who is still out one grand - but surely an ease for the officers - and it begs the question whether Choco's unwitting role as a witness to the Budna investigation played any part in it.
