A MOVE BY  a former vice president  to stall his court appearance in a corruption trial by running for office in a political group has been labeled a mockery by Panama civil society organizations.

Felipe ‘Pipo’ Virzi was scheduled  face a Monday July 18,  hearing for  embezzlement, over a failed irrigation project in Tonosí. It is the second time that the hearing had to be  postponed.

At the last minute Virzi was nominated  as a candidate for the fifth undersecretary of the National Executive Committee (CEN) of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) which  led to the suspension on Monday, July 18 , for the second time of the preliminary hearing  of 33 people for embezzlement against the State, through the failed Tonosí irrigation project in Los Santos.

JUDGE SURPRISED
The Judge, Jose Angel Carrera said Guillermina McDonald, legal representative of Virzi, appeared to his office on Friday July 15 at 4:58 pm -a two minutes before the  5 pm  closing time (5:00 pm) - to notify him  that her client was running as  a candidate in the internal elections of the PRD and so enjoyed electoral protection.

Carrera opened the hearing at 9:31 am on Monday and said that because of   the application of one of the accused for an elected office he could not give the audience as it was necessary to ask the Electoral Tribunal (TE) to lift the  immunity of Virzi.

The judge said that the notification of the defense Virzi completely surprised him because everything was planned for the Monday hearing.

MONEY WASTED
“Every time a hearing is suspended state money is thrown overboard, as the authorities must make a great effort of personnel and logistics ao these processes are developed properly," said the judge.

At the same time   he called on the lawyers to adhere to the principles of procedural fairness to all parties.

The judge rescheduled the hearing to between  November 14-18.

The Third Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, Zuleika Moore, had requested the call to trial of Virzi and his partner, Ricky Ricardo Calvo trader; the former ministers of Agricultural Development Emilio Kieswetter and Oscar Osorio; former candidate for deputy of the Democratic Change (CD), Porfirio Ellis, and managers of the contractor Hidalgo & Hidalgo (H & H), Marco Albán Crespo and Victor Rios, among others. Almost every defendant is under  precautionary measure. Osorio and H & H executives are the only ones in preventive detention.

Ana Belfon, lawyer for Osorio, asked the judge Carrera to apply a less severe preventive measure for her  client, as he had been  detained for s yesr , and does not represent a flight risk and has complied with the process.

Ricardo Ricky Calvo, is a fugitive in this process and there is red Interpol alert for his arrest

In addition, Elvira, the daughter of Virzi, ran for the PRD fourth undersecretary. Both Virzi and his daughter are accused of irregularities in the registration of property in Santiago, Veraguas province.

In a statement made public on Monday PRD official, Perez Herrera said that the PRD cannot prohibit any person participating in an internal election, provided it complies with the requirements of the statute of the collective.

Meanwhile, Annette Planells of Movin described the decision to suspend the hearing as absurd because the request for judgment against Virzi by the prosecution was made in January 2016, prior to his application as a PRD candidate.

Planells claimed that this action undermines the reason why the electoral jurisdiction was created, and which aims to avoid political persecution of the candidate.

Magaly Castillo, Citizens Alliance for Justice, said that the electoral criminal jurisdiction is the form used by politicians investigated for corruption to mock justice.

She wondered, how a case like Tonosi irrigation under investigation since August 2014, could protect  a politician with electoral jurisdiction because he  decided to participate in an internal struggle of his party. "This is too much impudence and I hope that the judges of the Electoral Tribunal act quickly, to lifting the immunity and take decisions against this practice that is affecting the administration of justice," she said.