Ex-judge dodges investigation bullet

Former supreme court judge José Abel Almengor has dodged an  investigation bullet for the second time.

Five deputies of the nine members of the Credentials Committee of the National Assembly decided to archive Assembly, yesterday filed complaints against Almengor. The deputies were all members of the ruling coalition.

It was also decided not to send  the cases to the Public Ministry (MP) for investigation.
The four complaints were related to Almengor’s alleged involvement in a plot to remove from office his former boss,  Attorney General, Ana Matilde Gómez.
Miguel Fanovich, chairman of the committee, said that e-mails provided as evidence were not legally valid.
He said that the complaints will not be sent to the MP, because the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly do not allow this option for cases that are archived.

Almengor had previously resigned while serving as a prosecutor in the Attorney General’s office, while under investigation in connection with an out of country trip by a suspect  in a money laundering case who was under under house arrest. He was later appointed a Supreme Court Judge by President Ricardo Martinelli in spite of widespread opposition.