Judge clashes with prosecutor over paralyzed probe

Supreme Court Judge José Ayú Prado, renowned for time spent away from Panama on State-funded trips abroad to “conferences and study sessions”,  has denied being responsible for the “paralysis” of the investigation by the irregularities in the award of the televised bingo contract Buko Millonario, involving the sons of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli.

Ayú Prado, who is the rapporteur of a guarantee panel for  Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares -one of those investigated in the case, said that the draft decision came out of his office in January 2017, when he began the process of collecting signatures from other members of the plenary session. Currently, it awaits the vote of a magistrate of the Court, as stated in a note that Ayú Prado sent to Attorney General Kenia Porcell, on April 4.

Earlier that same day, the Public Ministry complained because the process has “two years and four months of stoppage for a protection of guarantees … “waiting for the Amparo to be decided by Judge Ayú Prado to continue the investigation,”

In his note to Porcell, Ayú Prado indicated that although the Amparo was filed in November of 2015, it could not be attended until an incident of contempt that was entered in December of that year was resolved The incident was finally resolved in November 2016

“As the Public Ministry did not use the usual channels to verify and corroborate information, it took the risk in speculating on data and details that, unfortunately, were incomplete, inaccurate, and did not match with reality and confused public opinion “, says Ayú Prado in his letter.

The Public Ministry is investigating  the alleged irregularities in the contract which was awarded the Buko Millonario, a televised bingo whose operation was awarded “to a front company to benefit the children of a high former official ” [Ricardo Martinelli]

The Fifteenth Criminal Court provisionally dismissed on July 2  last year charges against currently detained former Minister of Finance Frank De Lima; the former executive secretary of the Games Control Board (JCJ) Giselle Brea, and the ex-sub-secretary Luis Felipe Icaza. for the alleged commission of crimes against the public faith -in the form of falsification of documents-, to the detriment of the JCJ.