Panama’s top court silent on accusations of corruption in diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Panama’s top court silent on accusations of corruption in diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks
By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, May 31, 9:44 AM

PANAMA CITY — Panamanians are criticizing the silence of the country’s top court in the face of accusations of government corruption so wide-ranging that the U.S. Embassy said it affected U.S. national interests.

In diplomatic cables released this week on the WikiLeaks website, embassy officials said they had “credible and compelling information” that Supreme Court Justice Winston Spadafora took bribes to influence court cases.

~snip~
The president of Panama’s lawyers association says the court has instituted a worrisome policy of silence on the accusations.

Political science professor Miguel Antonio Bernal said Monday the accusations indicate “the high degree of corruption” in Panama’s legal system.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/panamas-top-court-silent-on-accusations-of-corruption-in-diplomatic-cables-on-wikileaks/2011/05/31/AGKR6QFH_story.html

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Hey, it's a country that has embraced the free market system.

How else does ten percent of the population hold onto 90% of the resources?

[struggle4progress]

2. US Embassy Reported Bribery of Panamanian Supreme Court in 2004 (WikiLeaks) (March 2010)

Thursday, March 17 2011 @ 11:10 AM EDT
Contributed by: Don Winner

The Panamanian Supreme Court of Justice did not escape the reports sent from the US Embassy in Panama City to the US State Department in Washington. For the US diplomats, there were almost no doubts that the entity is "steeped in corruption" due to the actions of its judges. This belief was reflected in at least three diplomatic cables WikiLeaks gave to the Panama America newspaper. One of these cables was sent in May 2004 and describes the role of the Supreme Court in a case of illegal arms trafficking on a vessel named the "Otterloo." The United States concluded that, based on various sources, eight of the nine Panamanian judges received "bribes to drop the proceedings" and to free the only person who was detained in the case, the Israeli Shimon Yalin Yelinek, who was also investigated by the DEA for a money laundering case.

The case involved the purchase of 3,000 AK-47 assault rifles and 5 million rounds of ammunition that were purchased from the Army of Nicaragua with a false purchase order from the National Police of Panama, a weapons shipment that eventually ended up in the hands of th FARC in November 2001. Eight judges of the Panamanian Supreme Court; Winston Spadafora, Alberto Cigarruista, Rogelio Fábrega, Aníbal Salas, Graciela Dixon, César Pereira Burgos, José Troyano and Arturo Hoyos, based their decision to drop the charges against Yelinek on an alleged lack of evidentiary links with Panama in order to assume jurisdiction in the case. Supreme Court Judge Adán Arnulfo Arjona abstained from the vote in this case because he did not agree that the case should be closed.

However, the US Embassy in Panama said the judge's decision ignored the fact that the vessel "Otterloo" was registered under the Panamanian flag, and the company that owned the vessel was based in Panama. The Embassy also argued the Supreme Court judges ignored the fact that the falsified purchase order was a document supposedly from the National Police of Panama. "We believe that this type of corruption in the (Panamanian Supreme) Court represents a threat to the economic interests and security of the United States in Panama," says the cable. The US embassy also recommended sanctions in response to the "dubious" decision adopted by the Panamanian Supreme Court in the "Otterloo" case. "The embassy is assessing whether a revocation of the visas would be appropriate for any of the individuals involved in this case. Another option to consider is to suspend economic assistance from USAID to the Supreme Court, instead channeling that aid to civil society," said the embassy. (more, full text of cable follows)

The US embassy also asked to have the lawyer Carlos Carrillo, the legal representative of Yelinek, placed under surveillance. The report contains a list of Carrillo's clients which for the United States was worrisome. Among them was the politician Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, the sister of the drug trafficker Jesús Arcángel Henao Montoya, and the former president of Panama Ernesto Perez Balladares ...

http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20110317111048229