Supreme Court judge queried on Wisa Group visit

SUPREME COURT Judge  Harry Diaz is facing questions from within the judiciary over why he  was seen leaving  the offices of the Wisa Group on the same day that the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced it had placed the company on its Clinton List for laundering money for drug traffickers.

Diaz claims  it was a coincidence as he was at the offices to discuss articles about judicial procurement that had appeared in La Estrella, which is owned by the Waked family, which also owns Wisa Group. He said he was meeting with Juan Luis Correa  a former La Estrella executive before being picked by Abdul Waked to move into the upper echelon of Wisa.

His name has since been publicly linked with Ricardo Martinelli in investigations into the scandal ridden Financial Pacific brokerage, as part of an investigation he had started due to the articles.

Administration Prosecutor Rigoberto González said that this explanation needs to be clarified.

“If indeed what he is saying is true, the first thing we need to know is if the plenum of the Supreme Court commissioned him for that,” he said.

A similar opinion was offered by former Chief Justice Anibal Salas, who said that “we should analyze whether the judge was entitled” to take that action. Reports La Prensa.

If not, he said “it’s an issue that the judges have to analyze.”

On Friday, amid the questions of his visit to the Waked offices, Diaz filed a complaint against the administrative secretary t of the court, Vielsa Ríos, whom he accused of “serious violations of the Judicial Career Act.” It appears that complaint was filed in relation to the articles that had appeared in La Estrella relating to a direct contract plaved with a construction company, by Rios

Former Supreme Court Justice Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño stressed that complaint from the judge is serious, but also noted that the context in which it was filed “was irregular.”