economy

Controversies as new court takes
over claims by the government
by Eric Jackson

It's a matter of some concern to kleptocrats everywhere. If you have held public office and stolen left and right, or taken bribes to influence your actions, or taken advantage of conflicts of interest, wouldn't you want to be sure that if the next administration comes after you, demanding that you cough up ill-gotten gains, the court that will hear the matter will be, shall we say, understanding?

It's also a matter of some concern to good government types. At the end of the third post-invasion administration, the old Direccion de Responsabilidad Patrimonial (DRP), which had jurisdiction over such matters, has still not disposed of the real estate seized from our sticky-fingered former dictator, one Manuel Antonio Noriega. Assets seized in all manner of legal actions involving the state are routinely allowed to crumble away in the tropical environment, often to the point that by the time a decision is rendered, the dispute over rights to the property is moot because it has been allowed to become worthless.

And so, for whatever combination of motives, the Torrijos administration and its normally obedient PRD caucus in the National Assembly reformed the system late last year. Under Law 67 of 2008 the DRP has been abolished and is being replaced with the Tribunal de Cuentas, a new court with jurisdiction when the taxman or some governmental body has an economic claim against you that gets referred to it by the Comptroller General.

At the beginning of the year the Tribunal de Cuentas took over the DRP's old offices in the Gusromares building next to the Contraloria General. The institution has its own prosecutor and a $2.3 million budget --- that is, not enough to take on many wealthy and powerful companies or individuals at any one time, and sufficient to prosecute no more than a tiny fraction of this country's current and former corrupt public officials. A new administration, according to its policies, could shrink it or expand it from there.

The new court's three magistrates are appointed, one each by the Supreme Court, the president and the National Assembly --- all of which are controlled by the PRD. Their terms are for 10 years, which critics argue would give corrupt PRD officials at least a decade of impunity in which to enjoy their ill-gotten gains.

The presiding magistrate, Álvaro Visuetti, is the legislators' appointment and the former director of the Registro Publico. He comes to the new job embroiled in a criminal case, wherein he is accused of improperly allowing the registration of an allegedly fraudulent transfer of real estate subject to a judgment in a divorce case. He denies any wrongdoing, but the matter is still pending.

Another of the magistrates, the Supreme Court's pick, is veteran criminal court judge Ileana Turner Montenegro. She has been at the center of a few high profile cases. These include the impeachment trial of the late high court magistrate José Manuel Faúndes, wherein she was one of the accusers who complained that Faúndes improperly interfered in a drug case that was before her court and freed an alleged Colombian drug trafficker. At his trial the nation heard the wiretap recording of Faúndes negotiating a $20,000 bribe to let the suspect walk, but the legislature ended up acquitting him. This past year Turner threw out criminal charges against prominent radical labor activist Saúl Méndez, who was accused by the Torrijos administration of hiring a petty hoodlum with a long criminal record to start a shooting incident at a labor rally. 

Turner's appointment has been criticized for two reasons. First, there are those who say that someone who specializes in criminal law doesn't have the right experience for the new court, which will deal with civil matters. Second, her sister, Health Minister Rosario Turner, is a member of the Torrijos cabinet and thus it's alleged that her family and political ties with those whose actions may be reviewed by the court are too close.

The other Tribunal de Cuentas magistrate, Óscar Adalberto Vargas Velarde, was appointed by the president and comes to the new court having been the presiding magistrate of the old DRP and having served more than a decade as one of its magistrates. The institutional continuity that he represents is alternatively praised and condemned. If the DRP was ineffective, was that because its presiding magistrate failed to assert bold leadership against corruption, or because it had to operate within a flawed legal framework?

At this point, how people judge the Tribunal de Cuentas depends for the most part on what they think of the PRD. Whether that partisan brand really belongs on the new institution will only be seen over time, as the court begins to hand down decisions.