Panamanian Lawyer Calls for Investigation into Possible Election Interference

For González, this is not about a single crime but several, including abuse of authority, money laundering, and the undermining of the country's democracy. González believes this investigation must be led by a prosecutor for organized crime, as, in his view, they have the broadest mandate. In this sense, González reiterated the importance of investigating the accusations made by his colleague, but he also noted that in the Public Prosecutor's Office, in his opinion, there are still personnel from former Attorneys General Javier Caraballo and Kenia Porcell who could obstruct such an investigation. "Here we may be facing money laundering, which would require assistance from forensic experts and people who could trace the flow of money generated by this criminal structure, as we are dealing with organized crime," González opined. González believes action must be taken, as otherwise, these groups, which he classified as a "criminal organization," will continue to operate and may achieve their goal of undermining a presidential candidacy at some point. "An investigation must be conducted not only because of the WhatsApp messages she notarized, but also because of the direct accusations, as she has named the individuals involved in attempting to undermine the democracy of our country and the fundamental pillar of justice," he specified. González indicated that his colleague spoke of extorting people who could obtain illicit money, which could constitute a "money laundering crime, as these funds might have been used to acquire assets." "Her statements constitute what we call a criminal news story. In these conversations, the inner workings were revealed that took place before she filed the unconstitutionality challenge against the candidacy of José Raúl Mulino for the presidency after Martinelli was disqualified," the lawyer explained. "(La Prensa) should have immediately stated that this did happen, so we have to distance ourselves from this person," said the lawyer, who did not overlook that the mentioned newspaper may have been biased on some controversial issues. "When you have access, as she said, to the President of the Supreme Court, and you have the ruling before it is issued, that is delicate because justice is a fundamental pillar of democracy," he maintained. Lawyer Basilio González considers that the Public Prosecutor's Office must initiate an ex officio investigation into the revelations made by lawyer Karisma Karamañites, who pointed out that Annette Planells, former director of Foco and La Prensa, had the Electoral Tribunal's ruling that disqualified Ricardo Martinelli from the presidential race a day in advance and her possible contacts with several Supreme Court justices. "The Attorney General (Luis Gómez) must make a superhuman effort to be able to conclude that the people being named should be investigated ex officio, because we are not talking about the possible commission of one crime but of many crimes," he considered. The lawyer explained that for someone "to have a ruling before the lawyers, before it is signed by the 9 magistrates, to have it once it is signed seems to be a matter of much greater transcendence than we can see." For the lawyer, it is no minor detail that the newspaper La Prensa disassociated itself from Planells, stating that three conditions had been set for her to join the corporation and that she apparently met none of them. "That is testimony because that newspaper also conducts investigations," he said. "We are talking about abuse of authority, corruption, extortion," said González on Julio Miller's program on Kw Continente. The lawyer also maintains that the WhatsApp conversations that were notarized by Karamañites and later revealed in the media should also be investigated.