Ex-presidents defense team to launch attack on Crime Prosecutor

While Organized Crime Prosecutor José Ayú Prado spreads his net wider in his investigation of former President Ernesto Pérez “El Toro” Balladares, the bull is fighting back.

The prosecutor, investigating money laundering charges against Balladares has placed four associates under “country” arrest.
The four are: Henry Wong Woo, Tomás Humberto González de la Barrera, Vicente Abdiel Calderón Martínez and Eyda Achón.
They have to hand over their passports and report to the police every 15 days and reside in a specific residence.
All four appear as signatories on Shelf Holding, a shell company created by the ex- president , to allegedly launder profits from a gambling company, Lucky Games .
The company received a license from Peres Balladares’ government to operate slot machine parlors without paying required fees.
The prosecutor justified the detention measures because the accused refused to answer questions during preliminary interrogations
The defense team of Perez Balladares plans to file a complaint against the Prosecutor for Abuse of Authority for placing him under house arrest.
The first secretary of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Pedro Miguel Gonzalez has said the President, Ricardo Martinelli has sought to influence decisions by pullingstrings of the judiciary and prosecutors.
Gonzalez, a former president of the National Assembly is wanted in the United States on charges of murdering a U.S. soldier

While claiming to he understand the public prosecutor., he said that no one is above the law, neither the President of the Republic nor the former president.

Gonzalez believes the president’s intention is to destroy the PRD Martinelli, by trying to jail Perez Balladares, the lasr President Martín Torrijos, or any other top member of the PRD..