Judge withdraws from Corcione case

SUPREME COURT Judge Harry Diaz has recused himself from a hearing which will decide whether Nicolas Corcione Perez Balladares, accused of money laundering, can dodge an appearance before Panama’s Organized Crime Posecutor .

The alleged crime is linked related to the accounts of convicted ex Supreme Court (CSJ) judge Alejandro Moncada Luna, it Judge Diaz was designated as Rapporteur r of the appeal, but he recused himself because he is a neighbor of Corcione Perez Balladares in a residence l in the capital city.
Replacing Diaz, will be Judge Jeronimo Mejia who, according to a La Prensa source of the Supreme Court must call a judicial hearing this week to decide the appeal.
Other La Prensa sources of the Supreme Court (CSJ) confirmed that there are opposing views as to whether the process followed to Corcione Perez Balladares is the responsibility of the Criminal Chamber of the CSJ or not.
The CSJ ex- CSJ -judge Esmeralda de Troitiño said that as director of the ACP, Corcione cannot apply to the Criminal Court to have any competence in the investigation followed by the prosecution.
According to Troitiño, only the chairman of the board of directors is vested with authority and not the directors of the entity.
In a letter sent on August 16 last to the chairman of the board of the ACP, Roberto Roy, Corcione announced his decision to temporarily abstain from taking decisions in on the board and to personally submit to the authorities pto cooperate with the research, give evidence and testify A promise which to date, has not been fulfilled.