Fighting Corruption, Or Not?

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Protecting the protected

Posted 05/04/2021

Once again, the Supreme Court of Justice - this time in a ruling drawn up by magistrate Hernán de León - justifies unjustifiable actions by denying the admission of a constitutional guarantee against the decision of a first instance judge that prohibited this medium from publishing photographs and investigating the case against the lawyer Janio Lescure, when in a recording in Spain he boasted of how he bought rulings and magistrates of the Supreme Court of Panama.  This is how some magistrates extend their protective mantle to the merchant, at the same time that they endorse the arbitrary prohibition of this medium from practicing journalism, thus restricting their freedom to express themselves, a fundamental and inherent part of the human being. It is surprising how, in the 21st century, when a democracy is supposed to reign in Panama there are still public servants who belong to prehistory, whose idea of justice is the same as that of a dictator. But his action goes beyond his obvious ignorance of human rights. What underlies is not as hidden as they would like, since it is obvious that, by protecting the big mouth, its protectors are also protected. LA PRENSA, Apr. 5

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/protecting-the-protected

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‘Punishment’ a disappearing word

Posted 11/04/2021

‘Punishment’  a disappearing word

How can it be justified that the judicial processes related to the embezzlement and embezzlement of the funds of the disappeared National Aid Program (PAN) during the administration of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) are still pending resolution? How to trust a justice that arrives so late or never arrives? So much delay is unforgivable. The judges, graciously, submit to the calendars of the defense attorneys, who undermine the processes with appeals, appeals, annulments and how many tools they have at hand to take them to the limit, and then demand their extinction. They are trials that do not reach the bottom, they are resolved by tying the judges' hands, because the system is made to promote impunity, especially in these crimes. Defense attorneys are within their rights, But the system has crossed its arms, it does not defend itself: it is not punished for delaying or for cramming the courts with irrelevant appeals. They are simply not sanctioned, and for that reason they do what they want. So, how can we believe that justice exists in Panama? Let's not complain that we never get off gray or black lists. It is that we do everything possible to stay in them. The word punishment is disappearing from the Panamanian vocabulary.- LA PRENSA, Apl. 11

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/punishment-a-disappearing-word

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OPINION: Distorting  the news

Posted 12/04/2021

The team that leads the defense of former President Ricardo Martinelli tends to distort, minimize, deny or divert the news about their client, who also practices the same strategy, for which he uses his propaganda media. What they do not consider is that on each occasion, they are the ones who are denied, so their credibility is always in question.

 It is a pity that foreign courts are the ones that take seriously the investigations of money laundering and other crimes that many judges in Panama discard as if they were garbage. There is more diligence in these processes than in Panama, and that accurately depicts the kind of justice we have in this country, hijacked by subjects who fear losing political and economic power or who see in their decisions an easy way to make money. The scandals in which the former president and his family are mentioned include Brazil, Italy, Andorra, Switzerland, Spain, the United States. So much mention cannot be a coincidence or the work of the supposed “political persecution” that they cackle so much about. The facts speak for themselves: money a lot, confessions of repentants and whistleblowers, documentation. But they only know how to repeat trite complaints that some buy knowing what is behind them. LA PRENSA, Apr. 12

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-distorting-the-news

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Business Chamber cites aberrant justice system

Posted 18/04/2021

The conditions leading to a reform of the constitution "have deepened", exposing an administration of justice complicit in impunity with aberrant and untimely rulings and a cracked institutionality and "State organs mired in patronage that feeds discretion, insecurity, lack of transparency and corruption” says  Panama’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture in its weekly report.

In the midst of this “not very hopeful” context and in a worrying and uncertain political panorama, the Chamber stressed that it insists on the need to reform the country's Constitution.

It added that, regardless of the method by which these reforms are carried out, the group will actively participate in the substantive discussion, reiterating reforms that strengthen the weak institutional framework of the country.

This, through changes that imply, for example, the requirements to be magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, their appointment and ratification, as well as those of the Attorney General and the Attorney General of the Administration, the times to appoint to these officials, the constitutional and legal powers of the Supreme Court, the budget of the Judicial Branch and the Public Ministry; the judicial function of the Legislative Organ, the method of selection and composition of the National Assembly, as well as limits to the reelection of deputies, and the limitations on the powers of the Executive.

"Panama must modernize for its integral development, considering the functional aspects that have led the country to occupy a differentiating position within the group of nations," said the organization.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/business-chamber-cites-aberrant-justice-system-1

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Lawyers playing for time

Posted 20/04/2021

The hearing of one of the high profile cases, and definitely emblematic in terms of the payment of multiple and millionaire bribes - confessed by the very companies that paid them - was postponed yesterday to August. There is nothing new in it. It has become customary for lawyers or defendants not to appear at the hearings. And so the little game will continue until the defense teams demand the prescription of the cases. These behaviors should be inadmissible and severely punished, as they constitute an abuse of the system and a mockery of authority and citizens. Judges are excessively tolerant of this lively game of lawyers, despite the fact that they are, in fact, auxiliaries of justice. The regrettable thing is that we are in the presence of the prelude to the Odebrecht case. It is the law at the service of organized political crime, which takes advantage of every legal loophole to sneak excuses, subterfuges and irrelevant and irrelevant legal resources, but with the crucial objective of lengthening the processes until the statute of limitations. The defendants have no interest in clearing their name, they seek to avoid jail by delaying their cases. And in many occasions, the mockery is consented by judges and magistrates, when the sensible thing is to punish it. – LA PRENSA, Apl. 20

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/lawyers-playing-for-time

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OPINION: Impunity vs Justice

Posted 21/04/2021

A legislative initiative of independent and opposition deputies seeks to end a blatant privilege: that the sentences in cases in which the Supreme Court of Justice processes a deputy be approved by a simple majority and not by a qualified majority, as was the recent case of the Deputy Arquesio Arias (PRD). These are clearly perks that seek that justice does not reach them. Regardless of the crime with which they are accused or the damage attributed, these people have allies in the Supreme Court of Justice who, without hesitation, consider impunity more important than justice. And although the legislative claim seeks to reverse an unacceptable privilege - which is coupled with the fact that the deputies are not subject to ordinary justice - it is unlikely that it will have the necessary support to be approved. We just have to remember that the first priority of the deputies is themselves, and reforming the law in that sense means giving up a jurisdiction. But therein lies the challenge: they have the opportunity to show that they are not interested in privilege; that we are wrong about their priorities; that they are really willing to be equal to the ordinary citizen in criminal matters. Give it a try! LA PRENSA, Apr. 21

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-impunity-vs-justice

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OPINION: Justice delayed

Posted 26/04/2021

Our judicial system is plagued with formalities that prevent - with great success, moreover - that there is real justice in Panama. The lawyers in Panama, far from litigating in substance, concentrate all their efforts on stopping the cases; present dilatory and ineffective appeals. That is, they sue the form, almost never the substance, with which, the only thing they achieve is that doubts and suspicions deepen not only in the judicial system but also in the innocence of their clients. Winning a case by delay or by prescription does not clarify whether the defendant is innocent; on the contrary, it generates a contrary perception. The Second Superior Court is sitting on a high-profile file: the case for alleged embezzlement and money laundering in the construction of phase II of the Via Brasil Corridor, the Via Domingo Díaz, and the Old Town of Panama City, in this case in which those who paid bribes confessed all the details: characters, circumstances, bribery, etc. But it has been stuck since last November in the offices of the honorable magistrates of this court, waiting for what? The prescription? What will resolve itself? Please, justices, start respecting yourself so the rest of us can do it. LA PRENSA, Apr. 26

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-justice-delayed