Attorney General’s two left feet as questionnaire  replies misdirected

Panama’s  Attorney General, Eduardo Ulloa who has been in the spotlight for controversial shuffling of prosecutors in prominent criminal investigations involving Odebreccht and members of the Martinelli,  family and appointing a prominent   Martinellista supporter committed a major gaffe this week by returning replies to questions sent from La Prensa, to another newspaper.

 His explanations did not go to La Prensa , but to La Estrella .

 Ulloa tried to justify the appointment he made of a superior prosecutor to, according to him, receive complaints, and without explaining the issue of his alleged independence from the open militancy of his new assistant reports La Prensa.

After  ignoring for four days  a dozen messages and a call from La Prensa respond to the appointment of the new superior prosecutor Rafael Carvajal Arcia  a militant supporter of the CD party that Martinelli founded and ran

 Ulloa claims that his assistant is not a prosecutor. The statement is not true says La Prensa as   Carvajal Arcia holds the position of “superior prosecutor”, according to the Public Ministry’s own payroll, a position that has a monthly allocation of $3,500 in salary and $ 3,500 in representation expenses, for a total of $7,000, equivalent to a minister of state.

Ulloa also affirms that Carvajal Arcia is an assistant, a function that coincides with La Prensa sources, who described him with the position of a superior prosecutor, although in practice, he serves as his assistant. “Ulloa also affirms that his assistant does not have any interference in criminal proceedings since his job is to attend to complaints and requests from users of the institution at the national level.”

Duplication
According to sources consulted by La Prensa, Carvajal Arcia would be duplicating functions. The Public Ministry (MP) is one of the very few state entities that have a Disciplinary Council, which is in charge of carrying out investigations on the grounds of complaints that may arise against the public servants of the institution.

And if the MP already has a formal entity, duly empowered to do this work, what are the real functions of Superior Prosecutor Carvajal Arcia as an assistant to the attorney? In addition, the sources consulted by this means commented, every official is under the obligation to attend to the complaints of his subordinates.

Carvajal Arcia is an outspoken follower of former President Ricardo Martinelli, who has demanded greater independence from the Public Ministry in the face of high-profile processes involving his children and his closest political circle.

The new superior prosecutor hired by Ulloa opened social media accounts in 2018 that served as a sounding board for Martinelli’s followers’ campaigns for his release from prison and to promote political candidacies in positions of popular election, including one that Carvajal Arcia himself He unsuccessfully tried in 2018, in the primaries of the Democratic Change Party.

Ulloa also tries to argue humanitarian reasons for this hiring, since he points out that the new prosecutor lost a leg due to diabetes and “that said disease keeps him in a vulnerable state of health.” Forget the attorney who was Carvajal Arcia himself who was aiming to be a deputy, a position that would have required much more physical activity than that of an assistant says La Prensa.

Sources also indicate that having appointed him with that condition would have as an objective that the official cannot be removed from office because of his condition.