Odebrecht case needs return of exited prosecutors

The superior prosecutors Zuleyka Moore and Tania Sterling should return to the management of the Odebrecht case , due to the enormous challenges that the ordinary or substantive hearing will represent, in which the Public Ministry will face the 33 defense attorneys in this complex judicial process writes legal analyst Rodrigo Noriega in La Prensa.

The two officials were removed from the largest corruption case in the history of Panama by those responsible for the Public Ministry.

In May 2020, four months after taking office following his appointment by President  Cortizo , the then attorney General Eduardo Ulloa removed Moore from the Odebrecht case, alleging a rotation plan that sought to provide “greater transparency and objective” to the work of the institution.

After the surprise resignation of Ulloa  the Attorney General in charge) Javier Caraballo, would formalize Sterling’s departure from the case in November 2021.

Sterling left that office after a complaint filed by the former Minister of Education, Lucy Molinar, for alleged criminal acts committed against the protected witness Euro-14. Caraballo later acknowledged that there was no evidence that Moore or Sterling had committed any crime.

Already on June 27, the prosecutor had sent Sterling on 45 days of vacation, which ended up becoming more than 9 months, until May 4, 2022, when she returned to the Public Ministry and was assigned to a family prosecutor’s office. in Colon.

Her colleagues, senior prosecutors Adecio Mojica, Ruth Morcillo, Zuleyka Moore and Nahaniel Murgas, were sent on vacation from November 24, 2021, to April 14, 2022.

Only Morcillo was returned to the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office for the Odebrecht case, created in January 2017. Moore was assigned to a homicide prosecutor’s office in La Chorrera.

Imminent challenge
With the conclusion of the reading of the fiscal hearing of the Odebrecht case, it is evident that the subsequent phase, which will begin with the possible summons to trial, will require the Public Ministry to strengthen its capacity to litigate the case, given that in that stage will have to evacuate the evidence, including the questioning of witnesses, and at the same time must respond to the actions of the 33 technical defenders in this process.

Such an extensive file requires that the people who are going to carry out the criminal action know first-hand all the details of the investigation and expertly handle the thousands of volumes that the case contains.

Prosecutor Morcillo has done very well with the staff that accompanies her, but with the reinforcement of her two colleagues, she would have a difficult team to beat.

In addition, there are other ongoing investigations that would benefit from the presence of senior prosecutors Moore and Sterling for their extensive knowledge of the subject. The fact that both are removed from the Odebrecht case is a prize of impunity and a reward for those who tried to dismantle this case. It is time to reverse that mistake and strengthen the first line of defense of Panamanian justice.

An interim attorney