law

Magistrate responds publicly to allegations

Supreme Court Magistrate Winston Spadafora thinks some people are just out to get him. Yet suspicions remain about his activities.

CAPTADA DE TVN

Speaking out: Winston Spadafora addressed critics during his interview.957340

Supreme Court magistrate Winston Spadafora broke his silence on allegations of his criminal activity in a television interview yesterday afternoon. He also breached an old tradition among legal professionals by talking publicly about his rulings. He did so in order to denounce a campaign he feels is directed toward deposing him from the Court.

Spadafora was most recently criticized for his role in a case involving businessman Jean Figali. "I don't know if he has a fairy godmother. It's certainly not me." he said. "He is someone I know, a very courteous man," he added, speaking about the owner of the Figali Convention Center.

Figali, head of the company Grupo F. Internacional, is involved in a legal dispute with the government concerning the construction of a controversial marina on the Amador causeway. The Autoridad Marítima de Panamá (AMP) suspended his contract last May for incompliance with its terms. But thanks to legal decisions made by Spadafora and his colleague, Jacinto Cárdenas, Figali was able to continue his work. In his interview, Spadafora indicated that the judicial code permitted him to do so.

The connection between Figali and Spadafora is not limited to those proceedings only, however. There are others, according to accusations made before the Asamblea Nacional by the secretary of the AMP, Carlos González de la Lastra. In 1999 Figali received $2 million in credit from Hamilton bank, which he never repaid. The bank took legal action against him and 13 other companies who were his guarantors. One of those was Crillón Real Estate Corp. The Spadafora family took over the reins of Crillón Real Estate in the middle of the trial. At that time the corporation was owner of apartment 28A in the El Crillón building in Punta Paitilla. Spadafora and his family lived there.

Spadafora's relations with the media are full of twists. The magistrate filed charges against the daily Panamá América when he was Ministro de Gobierno y Justicia under Mireya Moscoso. "I felt slandered and injured," he said. Spadafora was vindicated a couple of years later and responded by freezing the salaries of the journalists Jean Marcel Chéry and Gustavo Aparicio."

On another occasion, Spadafora filed a petition against La Cáscara También, a humorous tabloid which published a photomontage of two figures wrapped in sheets embracing each other. One had the face of ex-president Moscoso. The other had Spadafora´s. "Panamá América hasn't published things against me of late," the ex-minister declared. "That is not to say that I won't denounce La Prensa in the near future. "

Spadafora sees enemies on all sides. According the magistrate, his adversaries want him to be ejected from the Supreme Court. "I have been appointed for 10 years, ending the 31st of December of 2011. On that day I will leave the Supreme Court," he said. "The word resignation does not exist in my vocabulary."

For now the accusations made by González De La Lastra appear to have been misplaced by the Asamblea Nacional. Nevertheless, Spadafora challenged the deputies: "The Asamblea will have to try me and prove that a crime exists."

The country that has indeed already investigated Spadafora is the U.S. Things did not end well for him. His visa was withdrawn in accord with a law that does not permit individuals connected with crimes of corruption to enter the United States.

Spadafora has been friends with Blas "Toto" Velásquez for more than 15 years. Velázquez was recently accused of charging money to influence a decision in the Supreme Court. "I was not going regularly [to his offices in the Court], much less to have coffee with him," he said. "The fact that "Toto" Velasquez is my friend does not mean he can influence my judicial decisions," Spadafora added.