Prosecutor gets more time to investigate bullet dodger

FORMER Vice-President Felipe ‘Pipo’ Virzi who is dodging the bullet of a court  hearing in a case with potentially heavy sentences, faced another judicial hearing on Monday August 1 when the prosecutor  was granted  two  more months to complete investigations into the alleged falsification of documents and fraud.

Judge Edith Guizado authorized the extension in a a case involving Edy Corporation, SA, with fraud allegedly committed by Virzi and Maria de Los Angeles Pitti, native of the province of Chiriqui.

The case aims to clarify how Edy Corporation, S.A. – in which Virzi is  listed as shareholder, acquired the island Sevilla in Chiriqui, valued at $25 million. The event happened while Virzi was under house arrest in another case.

Virzi, who was second vice-president in the government of Ernesto Perez Balladares (1994-1999), has other ongoing processes in the Public Ministry. He currently has an injunction barring him from leaving the country as part of the investigation into the irregularities in the award of the failed Tonosí irrigation project, awarded in the administration of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014). That case is set to resume in November.

The previous hearing was put on hold as Virzi made a literal last minute move to run for office in the PRD elections, last weekend, and gained electoral immunity.