Abuse of Authority

I. Criminal Complaint and Prosecutorial Dismissal

On April 24, 2023, the Anticorruption Circuit Prosecutor of the Early Decision and Litigation Section issued the Provisional Dismissal 546-23, ordering the dismissal and archival of the criminal complaint that Villamorey, S.A. had filed against Judge Solange Le Ferrec Malek de Booker of the Fourth Civil Circuit Court of Panama. The complaint, presented by attorney Moisés Joel Bartlett Quiel on behalf of Ramiro López Nimatuj (Villamorey's legal representative), alleged abuse of authority under Article 355 of the Criminal Code in connection with the special judicial-accounting proceeding Lisa, S.A. had brought against Villamorey (Exp. 14606-21).

The allegations centered on two points: that the judge issued Embargo Order No. 1234/14606-21 on August 2, 2022, in favor of Lisa, S.A. for $44,910,912.00 without first ruling on an objection (reclamo) Villamorey had filed on November 11, 2021, and that in doing so she exceeded what the plaintiff had requested.

The Anticorruption Prosecutor conducted an investigation that included consultations with the Judiciary's Human Resources Technical Secretariat, authenticated copies of the civil case file from the judicial-accounting proceeding between Lisa, S.A. and Villamorey (Exp. 14606-21), verification with the First Superior Tribunal that no disciplinary proceeding existed against the judge, and interviews with court clerk Kathia Camero and the judge herself. The investigation established that Villamorey's objection had been embedded within the answer brief, rather than filed as a separate document, causing the court's case officer to overlook it when processing the file.

The Prosecutor applied the jurisprudential standard for abuse of authority under Article 355 of the Criminal Code, which requires an arbitrary act committed with dolus (criminal intent). Citing the Supreme Court of Justice's ruling of September 8, 2008, the Prosecutor concluded that not every resolution contrary to law constitutes a crime, but only the conscious, deliberate issuance of a patently unmotivated resolution born of a public servant's caprice and executed with the clear intention of causing harm. Once the omission was identified, the Court issued Order No. 1473/14606-21 on September 23, 2022, granting reconsideration and vacating Embargo Order No. 1234/14606-21 in its entirety, along with the notification edict and all communications sent to banking institutions. This procedural correction, consistent with Article 1129 of the Judicial Code, confirmed that the judge acted within her lawful authority.

The Anticorruption Prosecutor ordered the dismissal and archival of the case, finding no criminal offense.

The dismissal of this complaint is relevant to Lisa, S.A.'s position for two reasons. It confirms that Judge Le Ferrec's actions in the judicial-accounting proceeding were consistent with the law, and Villamorey's baseless filing of the complaint is a central element of Cpt. 202200053278, where Villamorey is under investigation for unlawful intimidation of the judge to influence the outcome of the civil proceeding.