Caribbean & Central America - January 2016 (ISSN 1741-4458)

This month, President Juan Carlos Varela swore in two new magistrates for the nine-member supreme court (CSJ) for the 2016-2025 period. The appointments come as Panama’s judiciary is under particular scrutiny following the recent discovery of a corruption ring in it, as well as ongoing efforts to bring former President Ricardo Martinelli (Cambio Democrático, 2009-2014) to justice.

Selected from a shortlist of ten drawn up by an ad-hoc executive commission (comprising ministers of the presidency and interior, Álvaro Alemán and Milton Henríquez, respectively, and presidential advisor Francisco Sierra), the new justices are Ángela Russo Maineri de Cedeño and Cecilio Antonio Cedalise Riquelme. Russo is an attorney in private practice who teaches family law at the Universidad Católica Santa María La Antigua (Usma) while Cedalise is a labour lawyer who served as one of Panama’s negotiators for the US-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA), advises the labour development ministry and teaches labour law at several universities.

The two, whose appointments were approved on 21 December by the 71-member unicameral legislature, replace Harley Mitchell and Nelly Cedeño – the latter is an alternate for Víctor Benavides, who was forced to step down as CSJ magistrate last year for alleged illicit enrichment and sexual crimes against minors. Benavides was the second CSJ magistrate to resign since former CSJ president, Alejandro Moncada Luna, quit in 2014, also over corruption allegations. In an unprecedented move, in March 2015 Moncada Luna received a five-year prison sentence for illicit enrichment and falsifying documents and his seat is now occupied by his alternate Abel Zamorano. President Varela has yet to confirm whether he will promote Zamorano to occupy Moncada Luna’s post, replace him with somebody else and leave Zamorano as alternate, or appoint both a new magistrate and alternate.

While there was initial criticism of the process by which the committee drew up its shortlist, representatives from civil society groups such as Carlos Lee, a lawyer and member of the Alianza Ciudadana Pro Justicia (ACPJ) and Juan Carlos Araúz, vice president of the national bar association, hailed the “consensus” reached over the appointments and noted citizens’ participation in the process. As well as the ACPJ and the bar association, other civil society groups like Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Libertad Ciudadana, the local branch of international anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TI), and political organization Movimiento Independiente por Panamá (Movin) closely followed the selection process, given public concerns about official corruption. These have been fuelled not just by the above-mentioned cases but also the dismantling of a corruption ring within the judiciary in November 2015 in which 13 people, including judicial officers, were arrested for crimes against public administration relating to the judiciary. The allegations include the improper negotiation of bail agreements, the withholding of arrest warrants, manipulation of hearing dates, and the bribing of jurors.

Martinelli

The new justices take up their posts amid efforts to bring Martinelli to justice. The former president is currently in the US where he faces a handful of corruption investigations, including charges of embezzlement, espionage, taking bribes, wire-tapping and illegally issuing pardons. On 21 December, the CSJ issued an arrest warrant for Martinelli in relation to the wire-tapping case. Meanwhile on 10 December, Panama’s electoral authorities (TSE) stripped Martinelli of the immunity from prosecution that he enjoys as CD president, to face charges of insider trading on shares of Canadian mining firm Petaquilla while he was in office.

• CSJ president

On 4 January, the nine-member supreme justice court (CSJ) re-elected its current president José Ayú Prado for the 2016-2017 term. An ally of former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), Ayú Prado, a former attorney general (2011-2013), received five votes from the CSJ – including from the two new justices, Ángela Russo Maineri de Cedeño and Cecilio Antonio Cedalise Riquelme. The appointment was badly received by civil society groups like Alianza Ciudadana Pro Justicia (ACPJ) given eight complaints have been filed against Ayú Prado before the legislature’s credentials committee.