Assembly buries legislature corruption case

Eight days after beginning the study of a 15 volume 8000 page report, the National Assembly unanimously decided to close the file on one of the biggest corruption scandals involving legislators.
The report concerned alleged bribes for the ratification of Supreme Court judges Winston Spadafora and Alberto Cigarruista , eight years ago.

 It was in the words of one critic a chronicle of death foretold.
Maribel Jaén, representing the Justice and Peace Commission, said "Everyone, without being a lawyer, knew that the case would be filed because there are too many interests at stake," he said.
"Impunity causes serious damage to the desired and required democratic governance," he said.

The voting for not allowing the reopening of the case,was 45 votes for and none against. The complaint was launched in January 2002 by then legislator Balbina Herrera. Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD).
26 legislators were not present at the time of voting.
Yesterday, eight days after the Credentials Committee began reading and studying the 15 volumes, and after a three-hour meeting, the commissioners took the first step to bury one of the biggest corruption scandals involving legislators said La Prensa.
The chairman of the Credentials Committee and member of Democratic Change (CD), Mario Miller Miller summed up the reason for the vote of the committee. "We found no evidence to open the file." And stated that of the8000 pages, less than 25 concerned the bribery allegations to ratify the judges.

For Miller, the dossier was " no more than a complaint based on a rumor” and that the current Credentials Committee, correctly interpreted the laws and the Constitution, and the case was “ over, buried and closed. "

The second step was to send a committee report to the full Legislature, which called for the closure of the case. The full assembly needed only 30 minutes to read the report and closthe case.
The process began in 2002 after Herrera reported that Carlos Tito Afu, at that time a colleague in the PRD, had voted for the ratification of Spadafora and Cigarruista in exchange for $ 1.5 million, from the Executive, at that period (2000-2004) led the Arnulfist Mireya Moscoso.

In 2003, the Supreme Court closed the case of the alleged purchase of votes to approve the project for the construction of the Multimodal Center and Services of Columbus (CEMIS), together with reporting of suspected bribery to the ratification of the judges.
It remained closed until July 2009 when the now suspended Aattorney General, Ana Matilde Gomez, presented a procedural initiative to reopen the case.

In a ruling of December 24, 2009, the Court reopened the case and ordered the Assembly to investigate the alleged bribery in the ratification of the judges.