Moves to resolve Panama justice crisis

The  Committee for the Modernization of the State Justice and Public Security was activated on Friday, August 24, to analyze the crisis in Panama ’s justice system, following revelations by Attorney General, Kenia Porcell.

The committee drew a roadmap that, that according to chairman  Enrique de Obarrio, will be developed at “different speeds because there are things more urgent than others”.

The first action that was agreed was to ask, Labor Minister Luis Ernesto Carles, to write to the Supreme Court, the National Assembly, and the Executive.

The letter to the Plenary of the Court of would reiterate the call to its interim president Hernán De León, to render a report on the statements of the Attorney General as he has not responded to earlier public requests.

A letter to the National Assembly will ask for the ratification of the substitute magistrates of the Supreme Court, and the Executive will be asked to assign replacements for Jerónimo Mejía and Oyden Ortega, whose terms expired on December 31. but  the   Assembly rejected President Varela’s  two  previous designations

De Obarrio said the committee, will also push for the Special Committee of Notables on constitutional reforms to resume as a matter of urgency.

The National Agreement for Development is the ideal forum to address the issues of the State, in this case, the crisis of justice said De Obarrio.

Last week, the body demanded that the truth be known about the statements of the prosecutor Porcell, who revealed, on August 13 a conversation with Judge De León in which he confessed that he was being  “pushed” and that the wiretapping case against  President Ricardo Martinelli “was going to fall.”