New questions surround ousted Attorney General scandal

The scandal surrounding the alleged involvement of a supreme court judge and other leading legal figures  in a plot to oust the former Attorney General, Ana Matilde Gomez, took a new turn in the last week.

La Prensa reports Jose Ayu Prado, the current  Attorney General has asked the secretary of Public Prosecutions to determine whether prosecutor William Parodi was the subject of any investigation into the alleged theft of some files and records connecting  the president  with  a convicted Colombian swindler David Murcia Guzmán. 

Guzman was  arrested in Panama, and deported to Colombia where he was sentenced to 32 years in jail over a  Ponzi scheme in his  home country. He ran a similar operation in Panama. He was later extradited to the U.S. where he faces trial on money laundering charges. During the election campaign there were allegations that Murcia had  given $3 million to Ricardo Martinelli's  leading opponent., Balbina Herrera.  A similar amount was alleged to have been given to Bobby Velasquez the PRD opponent of Bosco Vallarino in the Panama mayoralty race. Velasquez, with a 10 point lead in the polls, slumped to  second  place, and Panama got Mayor Bosco, even though he was shown to be in possession of U.S. citizenship. Herrera was  soundly defeated.  The allegations were never proved, and have since been largely discounted, while some allege they were a political set up

An associate of Murcia's whom he said  held millions of follars of the ponzi man's funds was under house arrest, and under the supervision of a public prosecutor Jose Almengor,, when he appeared in Miami.

Almengor, who left the prosecutor's office,was made a supreme court judge by President Martinelli  and is in the middle of an investigation into his alleged involvement in a plot to oust his former boss, Ana Matilde Gomez.

Ayu Prado said he would seek the information on an investigation  of following public statements made by former  Ana Matilde Gomez on the alleged disappearance of the files and an investigation of Parodi.  He classified the request as routine in the wake of statements made  by Gomez.