Attorney General named new Supreme Court judge

Panama’s Attorney General, Jose Ayu Prado, has been named the new judge of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), replacing Aníbal Salas whose term expires on December 31.

At the same Cabinet meeting Ana Isabel Belfon, was chosen as the new Attorney General's Office to replace Ayu Prado. Belfon will end his term on December 31, 2014.
Ayu Prado has 27 consecutive years working in the Public Ministry, where he has held most positions, from assistant to Attorney General Attorney's Office, which he has held since January 2011, when he was appointed by the president, Ricardo Martinelli, to replace Guiseppe Bonissi after a scandal involving narco traffickers, during his watch
The administration of Ayu Pardo has been criticized for its slow progress in several high-profile cases, especially in those who have been involved officials of the current government and ultimately have been resolved in the courts and closed without charges, often by inconsistencies in the research done by the Public Ministry says La Prensa.
Examples are the dismissals this year by the Third Criminal Court for the former director of the National Land Qualifications Authority Anabelle Villamonte, by processes that were presented by Fifth Circuit prosecutors and Second Circuit Anticorruption prosecutors following the granting of land in Juan Hombrón and Paitilla.
Ayu Prado also sent a request this year to the Supreme Court, for dismissal, a dossier on alleged irregularities in the purchase of three properties for the construction of a hospital in Arriajan.
He also called, for the closing of the investigation of former Minister of the Presidency Demetrio Papadimitriu for land titling in Juan Hombrón, for lack of evidence
 Ana Belfon Vejas, known as the "Iron prosecutor" is currently the secretary of legal affairs for the Presidency. A good part of her working life has been linked to the public sector..

Between 1986 and 1989, under  the dictator Manuel A. Noriega she was the first prosecutor of the Judicial District of Panama. 

In June 1986, ,  Belfon ordered the arrest of journalist Guillermo Sanchez Borbon. Bourbon Sanchez wrote, "When Noriega’s prosecutor  called me into her office to take my statement, I was innocently getting into the lion's den …".

On Wednesday, December 19, special sessions of the National Assembly will be convened  to ratify the appointments.