Panama’s Report Against Gaby Carrizo Cannot be Discredited

Lawyer Angelo Madrid opined that the report of the auditors of the Comptroller General of the Republic cannot be discredited because, he said, “there is freedom of proof.”  Madrid’s reaction comes after the controversy over the actions of Comptroller Anel Flores at the Public Ministry and an alleged “interruption” during an “interview” in the case against the former vice president, José Gabriel “Gaby” Carrizo, a member of the PRD party.  The scandal erupted on Thursday after the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced it had opened an investigation into officials at the Comptroller’s Office regarding the incident.

It later emerged that Comptroller Flores had gone to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office to inquire about his staff, who, according to some accounts, were being interrogated from 8:00 a.m. until after 4:00 p.m.  The Comptroller’s Office assures that at no time were the proceedings carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office interrupted.  “Since there is so much contradictory information, could this (Flores’ actions) lead to the nullification of the investigation into Mr. Carrizo?” asked journalist Julio Miller on his program on Kw Continente. 

“The interview is not supposed to be to investigate the auditors, it is supposed to be to delve deeper into the reports that the Comptroller’s Office made about Carrizo,” said lawyer Rolando Villarreal.  For his part, Angelo Madrid explained that there is total or partial nullity. ” If that legal input (the Comptroller’s report) is flawed when it was collected, it can be challenged before a Guarantee Court to see if it is admitted or not at that procedural stage,” he stated.   He clarified that the elements of proof are indications gathered to create evidence that can be admitted.

At this time, these elements are not evidence; evidence is admitted during the oral trial and preliminary hearing phases.  He added that these reports are elements of conviction to structure (evidentiary elements) that serve, with other testimonial, expert and documentary elements that strengthen the investigation of the Public Ministry or the defense.  He added that the total or partial nullity (of the reports) cannot be discredited because there is freedom of proof and it will be debated before a competent Trial Court that will say whether the expert opinion is viable or not, he pointed out.  He stressed that “the auditors have to review and inform the prosecutor if this piece of documentary evidence is relevant to be admitted before a court.”  In Madrid’s opinion, the prosecutors are doing what the law allows them to do.  For his part, Miller, citing sources linked to Carrizo’s defense, believes that there is manipulation by the comptroller to influence, as he said, the report of the auditors of the Comptroller’s Office.