Judge rejects call to recuse in brokerage scandal
PANAMA’S Supreme Court president, José Ayú Prado who was appointed to the court by ex-president Ricardo Martinelli, has refused to recuse himself from the Financial Pacific (FP) scandal case, which involves Martinelli and in which he was previously involved as Attorney General.
Calls for him to step aside, and criticism of his stance have come from many quarters
The court’s press secretary issued a statement Sunday that said, in part, that Ayú Prado should not be disqualified from the case due to a conflict of interest.
However, the plenum of the Supreme Court could still act on the matter under article 50 of the judicial procedure code, which states that judges can be removed from a case due to “grounds affecting their impartiality…or when they were involved earlier in the process, reports La Prensa.”
Magaly Castillo, of the Citizen’s Alliance for Justice, said that nobody will trust the judge due to the fact that he was previously involved in the case, when he allegedly persuaded Mayte Pellegrini, to change her testimony, linking Martinelli to an account called High Spirit account, used to manipulate share prices at FP, in return for her release from detention.
Annette Planells, of the Independent Movement of Panama, said that the situation creates a serious suspicion within the citizenship, as it has not been handled with transparency.
Planells said that Ayú Prado should ask his colleagues to take action on the case.
“We must remember that Ayú Prado intervened in favor of Martinelli when he was the Attorney General,” said Planells. “In order to achieve a climate that generates confidence in Panamanian society, Ayú Prado should separate himself from this issue and let another of his colleagues assume the process.”
Former National Bar Association President Rubén Elías Rodríguez said that the judge’s removal is a “matter of common sense and transparency.”
