No police protection for key Financial Pacific witness.

A REQUEST for police protection requested by Mayte Pellegrini, who faces charges related to the investigation of the brokerage house Financial Pacific (FP) was denied on Thursday, April 23.

The request by Pellegrini’s lawyer, Kevin Moncada,was based on the fact that two people connected to the case have been victims of crimes. Vernon Ramos, a Superintendency of Securities official investigating the brokerage house, disappeared in November 2012 and fellow official, Gustavo Gordón, was attacked and stabbed in June 2014 while going to the brokerage house.
He argued that his client, who has been held under house arrest since Jan. 20, is at risk of suffering the same kind of attack by people who fear what she could reveal about the case.
Pellegrini is accused of having diverted funds from FP to her personal bank accounts, but she has denied the allegations, saying it was former directors of the brokerage house who misused funds. She also made allegations of a secret account of former President Ricardo Martinelli used to manipulate mining shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and accused the former Attorney General, Ayu Prado, now President of the Supreme Court of altering her depositions, and former Tourism manager, Salomon Shamah of making false promises when she was held in prison. Currently there are six pending cases related to FPs financial issues and a key player, Ignacio Fabrega, who faces multiple charges is a fugitive.