Supreme Court Authorizes Public Ministry To Listen To Wiretap Tapes
On Thursday the Supreme Court of Panama authorized the Attorney General to listen to tape recordings in order to verify the documentation submitted by Jorge Abrego, the former Chief of Security for the office of the Prosecutor of Administration, Oscar Ceville, in the illegal wiretap case. The advisor to Attorney General Giuseppe Bonissi, Neftali Jaen, said the order was issued through an opinion signed by Supreme Court Magistrates José Abel Almengor and Gabriel Fernández, the deputy for the presiding judge Aníbal Salas. Judge Jerónimo Mejía did not vote, arguing that the Attorney General is authorized to conduct an inspection at the premises of the offices of the Prosecutor for Administration located in Curundú. But Mejia said that in order to listen to the tapes of the recordings that were supposedly made illegally of the conversations of employees who worked at that office, Bonissi should have the judicial authorization of the full Supreme Court.
Jaen said that soon they would conduct inspections of the two sub offices of the Prosecutor of Administration, where Abrego says he had the listening equipment installed. Jaen said the Public Ministry requested the authorization of the Supreme Court (to listen to the tapes) in order to not make the same mistakes that have occurred in the past in cases of alleged wiretaps. (Panama America)
Editor's Comment: This is an ongoing corruption case. The Prosecutor of Administration, Oscar Ceville, supposedly ordered his Chief of Security, Jorge Abrego, to buy and install wiretapping equipment to record and monitor the telephone conversations of employees working in his offices. Ceville has filed counter-charges against Abrego, alleging that he tried to blackmail him for money with threats of going public with the information he had on the wiretaps. The Supreme Court and prosecutors are trying to figure out who did what, and why. Now the Public Ministry can listen to the taped conversations. This one will drag on for a long time. And, there's also the political angle - Oscar Ceville was appointed by the PRD.







Former Panamanian president Martin Torrijos was quick to react to the order issued by the Supreme Court for him to be questioned in the CEMIS corruption scandal. Torrijos, who remains outside of Panama, said he is willing to appear before the Court, as long as they are "not using the justice system as an instrument of persecution." "We will clarify everything," Torrijos said in the interview given to Radio RPC. (Telemetro)
The former security chief of the Prosecutor of Administration, Jorge Abrego, ratified in his sworn statement that he had illegally tapped the phones of former officials in that institution in 2005, on orders from Prosecutor Oscar Ceville. After making his statement for three hours he left accompanied by the Undersecretary of the Public Ministry, Beatriz Castañé, to go to a residence in search of key evidence in the case - the telephone recordings. Abrego was going to provide the evidence requested by the Attorney General's Office last night, as part of the investigation into the illegal wiretaps allegedly attributed to Ceville, and the extortion case filed against the former head of security.
Former President Ernesto Perez Balladares gave his sworn testimony yesterday before the Public Ministry in the continuing investigations into scandal of the alleged payment of bribes to lawmakers to get their votes to approve the Multimodal Industrial and Service Center (CEMIS) in 2002. Perez Balladares was accompanied by his lawyer Luis Carlos Cabezas, and he gave his statement to the General Secretary of the Public Ministry, Nedelka Diaz, said sources from the institution.
Little by little, the details about the case of illegal wiretaps in the offices of the Prosecutor of Administration are being revealed. Jorge Abrego, the former security chief of this institution, admitted to having placed wire taps on several phones, on order of Prosecutor Oscar Ceville. During an interview on the Channel 13 Telemetro Morning Report, Abrego said Ceville used several strategies to try to prevent him from revealing the details of the operation, and among those he said Ceville sent the journalist Julio Bermúdez to intimidate him. However, Bermudez, who spoke during the news program via telephone, said he was not sent by the prosecutor Ceville to meet with Abrego. (Telemetro Reporta)
The Minister of Social Development, Guillermo Ferrufino, warned that his legal team is preparing to file criminal charges against the former Chief Financial Officer of that entity, Gustavo Barahona, for extortion. Barahona, who on Friday denounced alleged mismanagement (corruption) in the MIDES through the use of inflated purchase prices, was fired from the institution on Thursday. According to Ferrufino, Barahona was fired because he tried to bribe him and extort him, demanding jobs for his family members, and to be relocated to another ministry. In speaking on the alleged inflated prices for purchases, Ferrufino called upon Barahona to present his complaints for investigation. (Telemetro)
The man who is a retired Major from the now defunct Panama Defense Forces, who until recently worked as an advisor for the Ministry of Government and Justice, José Hilario Trujillo, was picked up taken to appear before the Assistant Attorney General to be questioned about the alleged commission of crimes against the public administration. Trujillo was taken from his residence to the office of newly installed Assistant Attorney General, Angel Calderón, offering no resistance, according to the Chief of the Direction of Judicial Investigation (DIJ), Javier Carrillo. They have been looking for him since last Thursday. While being questioned Trujillo invoked Article 25 of the Constitution, which exempts him from testifying against himself. He was then taken to a cell at the headquarters of the DIJ, in Ancon, where he spent the night to see whether or not the prosecutor will decide to keep him in jail while the investigation unfolds. Defense lawyers for Trujillo requested that he be allowed to remain free, arguing that he suffers from diabetes. This is the second counselor associated with Minister Jose Raul Mulino to get in trouble in the past month. The first was Eduardo Alfaro, who was ordered to resign after being filmed conversing with prisoners at the La Joya prison. (La Prensa)
A complaint against Augusto César Gómez Ruiloba, Consul of Panama in Trinidad and Tobago (the brother of the former Attorney General Ana Matilde Gomez), for possible crimes against the against public administration, was presented by the corruption czar, Fernando Nunez Fabrega. The accusation is based on the fact that Gomez Ruiloba is on paid leave from the Panama Canal Authority but he is also earning per diem as a consul. About the complaint against her brother former Attorney General Ana Matilde Gomez said the government is again taking up an issue "with the sole purpose of tarnishing his image, now that my hearing is coming up." 'If indeed an irregularity has been committed, why don't they fire him," said Gomez. According to Gomez, the allegations in the complaint are easy to clarify, they just have to ask the ACP and the Comptroller. (Panama America)
The former National Director of Inspection, Supervision and Control of the Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama (ARAP), Kriss Poveda, yesterday reported irregular handling of the Authority on the part of the Administrator of the ARAP, Diana Arauz. According Poveda, Arauz fired her from the ARAP on 16 June 2010 because she prohibited 17 ships from leaving port because they were involved in administrative processes being carried out by the ARAP. "Arauz said she was dismissing me because I was not a facilitator for the users," the former official complained. Poveda said the Administrator of the ARAP told her she was being removed from office by order of the President of the Republic. On exactly the day she was fired, Poveda was going to testify in proceedings against Arauz in the Public Ministry for alleged crimes against the public administration. The process started after Araúz ordered the release of a boat that Poveda fined $564,000 for finning sharks, a prohibited practice. La Prensa contacted Arauz, but after saying she would provide her version of event, she said she was awaiting the approval of the President. Then, she turned off her cell phone. (La Prensa)
Carlos Afu says he has information on the acts of Laurentino Cortizo in the CEMIS case. In an exclusive interview with La Estrella, Afu decided not to reveal the details but said he would divulge what he knows when he's called to testify before the Supreme Court about the scandal that rocked the country early in this decade. But what did not hesitate to say is that the lawmakers were each given $6,000 dollars in bribes for their votes to adopt the CEMIS contract, and they were supposed to receive another $14,000 dollars once the law was published in the Gaceta Oficial. "The other $14,000 dollars was never given to us, ever. What I wanted, was that when they came to pay us that money, was when we were going to catch them. That's why I did the press conference on Wednesday, 16 January 2002, to make the public denouncement because I saw they were never going to pay us anything," he said.
National Assembly Deputy Carlos "Tito" Afu attacked the leaders of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) this afternoon and said they were the main players in the CEMIS corruption scandal. According to Afu judicial authorities should investigate the bank accounts of the members of the PRD's National Executive Committee (CEN) of that time, when the corruption scandal broke in 2002. They should investigate "all who were in the CEN of the party", all of the leaders, including Martin Torrijos, Balbina Herrera and Laurentino Cortizo, Afu reiterated during a press conference held in the National Assembly. "It hurts me when they say this is a problem of Tito Afu," said the Deputy, a former member of the PRD. Afu said the CEMIS case is one of the biggest bribery scandals that have ever occurred in Panama, which involved all three branches of government. It was he who on 16 January 2002 - when he appeared on television waiving stacks of money - has said repeatedly that he was bribed in exchange for voting to approve the contract between the State and the Consorcio San Lorenzo, through which they were supposed to have developed the Multimodal Industrial and Services Center (CEMIS) in Colon. For this reason, he reiterated that he wants to be called to testify in the investigation of this case. (La Prensa)
The CEMIS scandal has returned, once again at the hand of Carlos 'Tito' Afu. The politician from Las Tablas has insisted that the leaders of the PRD political party in 2001 negotiated the approval of the contract with the Consorcio San Lorenzo. But Afu has provided even more details, and says the negotiations were not quick or easy. "They started negotiating in September, when they were selecting who would Chair all of the committees (in the National Assembly)" he said. At that time, he explains, Martín Torrijos and Laurentino Cortizo decided who would be the Chairman of the Commerce Commission. "That started it all," he says.
Héctor Valdés Carrasquilla, the Mayor of San Miguelito, spent three hours being questioned by the Second Anti Corruption Prosecutor, Ramsés Barrera, yesterday afternoon, who is investigating Carrasquilla for alleged "crimes against the public administration" after it was discovered that $500,000 was missing from the municipal coffers. Although the Mayor must return to appear before the Prosecutor again in order to expand and amplify his statements, no precautionary measures were imposed. Sources within the Public Ministry said the prosecutor sent a note to the Supreme Court in order to ask for clarification with regards to his power or authority to remove the Mayor from his position as a result of the investigation. (La Prensa)
Five government employees, among them two Department Heads at the Public Registry, have been fired when it was detected they were delaying some administrative processes in order to collect bribes, said the Director of the Public Registry, Luis Barria, this afternoon. He said officials were delaying the issuance of Property Titles and Deeds for up to eight months, in order to obligate members of the public to pay bribes. Barria made a call to the public, asking the community to report and irregularities detected in the procedures performed by the Public Registry. He also said this investigation began with a complaint from a user that was filed in April of this year. He did not rule out the possibility that the investigations would be taken over by the Public Ministry. (TVN Noticias)
Panama's former Attorney General Ana Matilde Gomez said yesterday she would not bow down before the injustice being committed against her. Gomez said that for that reason she would be present at the preliminary hearing in her case, scheduled for 7 July. "If they think they are going to break me by condemning me, they are mistaken," she said, "My knees only bend before God." Yesterday Gomez attended the XL Eucharistic Citation, and event which took place at the Roberto Duran arena. Gomez is currently being investigated for having ordered a wiretapping operation against another former prosecutor, Arquimedes Saez, who was being investigated at the time for allegedly taking bribes. (La Prensa)
The preliminary hearing for Ana Matilde Gomez, who has been suspended from her position as the Attorney General of the Republic, charged with abuse of her position and authority in a case involving the investigation of a prosecutor who was caught red handed taking bribes, has been set for Wednesday, 7 July 2010, at 9:00 am. The date was established by Supreme Court magistrate Wilfredo Saenz, the deputy magistrate for José Abel Almengor, who is acting as the judge rapporteur in this case. 14 July 2010 was established as an alternate date. If Gomez's defense lawyers do not attend the hearing, Gomez will be represented by Gabriel Fernandez, from the Institute of Official Public Defense. Saenz is advancing the process against Gomez as the judge rapporteur, although a motion to have him disqualified presented by Gomez more than three months ago still has not been resolved. In this hearing the only thing that will be decided is whether or not the court will accept a motion to have Gomez brought to trial, contained in a Prosecutor's Opinion filed last Tuesday by the Secretary General of the Prosecutor for Administration, Nelson Rojas. Juan A. Tejada, Gomez's lawyer, said he is preparing a letter of opposition to the Prosecutor's Opinion. Gomez says she has no doubt that she will be found guilty and sentenced, and said she would exhaust all avenues to bring her case to the Inter American Court of Human Rights. (La Prensa)
Panama's Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime has investigated 14 people, including Ernesto Perez Balladares, for his part in an alleged network dedicated to money laundering. James David Tobiasson Vega - the boat mechanic for a yacht named "Mister Bull" owned by the former president, who is currently out of the country - was questioned by prosecutors about this case last week. Tobiasson, according to his defense lawyers, said his relationship with Perez Balladares is limited to the repair and maintenance services he provided for the vessel. He said he provided advice on the purchase of the yacht, and said the "Mister Bull" was built according to the taste and specifications of Perez Balladares. He also said the services he provided on the yacht of the former president were paid with checks from accounts in the name of the two companies that are currently under investigation for alleged money laundering, in this case, Shelf Holding Inc. and Pty Adventures Inc. He denied being a shareholder or manager for either of these companies.
Panama's Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime, José Ayú Prado, formally charged businessman Roosevelt "Lito" Thayer with money laundering late yesterday afternoon. Thayer reported to the sixth floor of the Avesa building on Vía España at 2:00 pm yesterday, where he spent many hours answering questions in the offices of the prosecutor. Due to an unspecified delay, the questioning started an hour later. Thayer was assisted by his lawyer, Luis Carlos Cabeza. When leaving at 7:00 pm later that evening, Thayer admitted that the prosecutor imposed a restriction - that he cannot change his residence without first notifying the prosecutor - but besides that there are no other restrictions on his movements. The questioning lasted four hours.
The PRD has decided to try to tip the balance of the investigations into the CEMIS corruption scandal against the Panameñista political party. Pedro Miguel Gonzalez was at-bat yesterday and lashed out at former President Mireya Moscoso and her entire Cabinet, including President Ricardo Martinelli, who was then the Minister of the Panama Canal. He said the Public Ministry should investigate Moscoso and her bank accounts, who was the eighth former lawmaker from the period 1999 - 2004 to testify. He said the case was reopened thanks to pressure from the Executive branch of government to the Supreme Court, because all they are trying to do is to pursue the PRD and "catch" former President Martin Torrijos. (La Estrella)
