Former Foreign Minister and ex-ambassador to the United States Ricardo Alberto Arias's presidency of La Prensa's board of directors may be affected by a legal opinion issued by Administrative Prosecutor Alma Montenegro de Fletcher. The opinion place in doubt the position of one of Arias's supporters on the board of directors, Roberto Brenes, who is also a member of the National Securities Commission (Comisión Nacional de Valores, or CNV). Last April's shareholder elections that brought the Arias faction to power at La Prensa have been challenged before the commission by dissident stock owners who claim that the winning faction's method of accumulating and casting proxy votes was improper under CNV rules.

Montenegro's opinion, issued at the end of this past December, is that CNV commissioners may not serve as directors of private companies, and particularly those like La Prensa Corporation that trade shares on Panama's Bolsa de Valores stock and bond exchange. Her opinion is based on articles 3 and 5 of Law Decree 1 of 1999, the statute that created the CNV. Article 3 provides that the "Commisioners may not exercise professions or commerce, nor any other paid position, except university teaching. Neither may they exercise any other activity or unpaid position that is contrary to or interferes with the public interests confided in their position." Article 5 provides that one of the qualifications to be a commissioner is "Not to be director or dignitary of a business that is registered with the Commission." The opinion does not have the full force of law --- it can be directly or indirectly challenged in the courts.

The Administrative Prosecutor's opinion came after complaints by Javier Romero, a semi-retired businessman, economy watcher and corporate reform activist who publishes the online newsletter El Inversionista, that Brenes was violating conflict of interest laws. The CNV, reacting to Romero's November 5 complaint, submitted its own request for an opinion by Montenegro de Fletcher on November 20. Officially, the administrative prosecutor ignored Romero's complaint and answered the commission's question. The December 18 opinion was released to the CNV on December 31 --- a great day to stay out of the business section headlines --- but only given to Romero in February.

On March 7, four positions on La Prensa's nine-member board of directors are scheduled to be filled at a shareholders' meeting. So far there has been no acrimonious campaign like the one that preceded last year's meeting, at which Arias supporters won a majority on the board and La Prensa shifted to an editorial alignment with the PRD and former Christian Democrat alliance.

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