Opposition aims to block court nominees

PANAMA’S Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD)  is aiming to block the appointment of the executive’s nominees for seats in the Supreme Court.

On Saturday, December 16, the party’s  National Executive Committee (CEN) asked its deputies in the National Assembly to “close ranks” to reject what they consider the “manipulation” of the judicial body with the designations of Zuleyka Moor and Ana Lucrecia Tovar de Zarak as magistrates.

It denounced that less than 15 days before the end of the 10-year terms of the magistrates Oydén Ortega and Jerónimo Mejía, president Juan Carlos Varela decided “unilaterally and without consultation” to present the names of the new magistrates, “without allowing participation of the rest of society in the selection “.

It recalled a  Varela campaign promise, that his government would provide the public with a transparent method to choose the magistrates of the Court, in which citizens would have “active participation”. They would include civil society associations, professionals and the church, and subject each applicant to “thorough scrutiny”,

“The failure of the Panameñista Party to fulfil its campaign promise, is due to the convincing elements of conviction that link them to the recent scandals related to donations from Odebrecht, “said the CEN.

“Zuleyka Moore is the prosecutor who in the Public Prosecutor’s Office has taken the Odebrecht case and who has refused to investigate until the end,  contracts that have been given in this administration with Odebrecht. If as a magistrate, she will have to declare herself impeded in the Odebrecht cases and even many other cases could fail. The  Cabinet Council agreed on the night of December 15 to designate Moore and Tovar de Zarak as magistrates of the CSJ for the period 2018-2027.

Moore will replace magistrate Jerónimo Mejía in the Criminal Chamber and Tovar, Oydén Ortega in the Civil Chamber of the Court. Moore is currently a special anti-corruption prosecutor and leads several high-profile cases, including the bribes paid by Odebrecht.

Tovar, a lawyer specializing in banking and finance, is part of the boards of the Superintendency of Banks and the Stock Market.

In the Assembly, the official Panameñista Party requires 36 votes to ratify the designations.

If you add the two votes of the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement (Molirena) and one of its ally, the Popular Party, are added the Panameñista Party, with 16 seats, would have 19 votes, so it would have to look for another 17 to complete the 36 votes required to ratify the two nominees.