No interest loan to judge balloons to $1.8 million

THE $700,000 interest free loan to a Supreme Court judge by a prominent Panama businessman with cases before the court,  mushroomed to $1.8 million following a Friday, December 5, investigation at the National Assembly.

In contrast to the statement initially supplied by Alejandro Moncada Luna, Felipe Virzi Pipo said before National Assembly prosecutor, Pedro Miguel González, that he lent 1.8 million to the suspended judge.
Virzi was asked by González to confirm the veracity of a loan for $700,000, according Moncada Luna, to buy an apartment in Coco del Mar, reports La Prensa.
Recently, in an activity in Veraguas, Virzi himself said he had loaned $700 thousand to Moncada Luna, but he was “hurt”, because he had used his name as a “shield”.
According to Gonzalez, the version of the loan for $700,000 was varied to a loan in the order of $1.8 million, and said it will evaluate the elements given by respondents.

Moncada’s investigation and suspension from the bench on charges including money laundereing, followed reports of his acquiring apartments for $1.7 million, after reporting his assets when appointed by Ricardo Martinelli, were a pick up truck and a watch