Panama court kidnaps assets of Corporación La Prensa due to ex-president's lawsuit

(CNN Spanish) –– The job stability of 240 media workers in Panama is at risk due to an asset kidnapping, following a civil lawsuit for alleged damages filed by former President Ernesto Pérez Balladares, who governed the country from 1994 to 1999.

The La Prensa Corporation (Corprensa) reported this Saturday through a statement about the seizure of bank accounts in the amount of $ 1.13 million, which was executed by a civil court, and according to the plaintiff, it is the continuation of a process that takes 8 years and that "the precautionary measure is aimed at guaranteeing the legal actions" undertaken by the former president in 2012.

In his lawsuit, Pérez Balladares claims $ 5.5 million against the newspaper company for a series of publications from March 2011, with information that he describes as false, issued by La Prensa, which is one of the two Corprensa newspapers.

In a statement published on the website of Pérez Balladares, it is explained that the publications made direct reference to the former president, saying that he was involved in a money laundering case that was being investigated in the Public Ministry.

For its part, in its digital edition on Saturday, La Prensa detailed that in those 2011 notes it was reported “that Pérez Balladares' could be the subject of a second criminal investigation 'for alleged money laundering, for' alleged irregularities detected in an account bank in Bahamas' ”. He adds that "before publishing both editions, the newspaper contacted the defense of the former president and published his version." It also ensures that in the face of civil lawsuit, there is still no conviction nor has the commission of any crime been proven by the media.

The La Prensa Corporation says in its statement that the legal action is a direct attack on freedom of the press and the right to information because it represses the company's operational continuity.

"With it, the funds used to fulfill our contractual obligations are frozen, and the payment of goods and services, and especially the wages of the corporation's 240 associates," is explained in the statement signed by Diego Quijano, president of Corprensa.

For his part, on the former president's digital portal it is argued that although "it was amply demonstrated that these accusations were false, La Prensa was not willing to retract it."

The exmandatario's website claims that “moral damage and the national and international discredit of his image were caused,” and that “the execution of this kidnapping in no way restricts the exercise of free journalistic activity to which the mentioned medium and much less to freedom of the press in the country. ”

Several unions, mainly journalistic, reject the kidnapping. At a business level, the Chamber of Commerce of Panama expressed in a statement: “We understand the power that the law grants to the plaintiff to defend his honor and honor; however, an action of this type in the times we live in is not only a serious blow to the right to information of citizens, but also puts at risk the livelihood of the more than 240 CORPRENSA collaborators ”.

And it is because of the economic crisis in Panama in the midst of the pandemic, on Friday there was a layoff of personnel on the two most important commercial television stations in the country.

Assets Demand Ernesto Pérez Media