OPINION; Court blind to corrupt judges

Although the Supreme Court of Justice is divided into four chambers -Penal, Civil, Contentious Administrative and General Business- its members act in a collegial manner, when they must decide business of a constitutional nature.

It is therefore inexplicable that there has not been a single questioning of two of those judges, accused of putting their judicial decisions on sale, one of them, none other than the interim president of the CSJ, and the other, through his son, fully identified in the corruptive activity. In the case of Judge Hernán De León, it is not the first time. Before he admitted to the prosecutor of the Nation that they had recorded him -who knows in what unspeakable matter- and that he was the object of blackmail to decline the competence of the process followed by Ricardo Martinelli. Now the rapporteur in a ruling on this same case – on which the whole process depends – is accused of selling his decisions to the highest bidder. Despite this, the other seven magistrates have said nothing. It does not even seem to mind the fact that he who sells his conscience once will do so for the rest of his life. What credibility can your decisions have, even if they are strictly legal? The reputation of both – and that of several of their colleagues in the CSJ – is irreparably tainted. One of the accused magistrates said that his honesty is not “in doubt.” That stage has passed. The evidence against him has cleared all doubt, giving way to the certainty of the non-existence of his alleged honesty. He does not even seem to mind the fact that he who sells his conscience once will do so for the rest of his life. What credibility can his decisions have, even if they are strictly legal? The reputation of both – and that of several of their colleagues in the CSJ – is irreparably tainted. One of the accused magistrates said that his honesty is not “in doubt.” That stage has passed. The evidence against him has cleared all doubt, giving way to the certainty of the non-existence of his alleged honesty. He does not even seem to mind the fact that he who sells his conscience once will do so for the rest of his life. What credibility can your decisions have, even if they are strictly legal? T-LA PRENSA, Nov. 17