Supreme Court magistrate Harry Díaz was discovered hanging around one of Abdul Waked’s offices yesterday. The magistrate excused himself by explaining that he had been called to the offices of Grupo Cima, the holding company for the Waked group of companies, allegedly for an interview with Juan Luis Correa, Executive VP of Waked International and former director of newspaper La Estrella.
Mr. Diaz declared that he had requested an interview with Mr Correa “as part of an investigation into complaints [he had] received”. The magistrate referred specifically to a public contract of $2.5 million awarded by the Supreme Court, which came to light in the recent publication by La Estrella, a Waked-owned newspaper.
The magistrate denied that his visit was in any way related to the recently launched investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department into alleged money laundering and drug trafficking activities, in which 68 Waked-owned companies have been named. “I realized what was going on precisely as I got there. They told me they would not be able to see me”, Mr. Diaz declared.
His statements were met with general skepticism, however. According to constitutional lawyer Ernesto Cedeño, Magistrate Diaz has no competence over the matters he referred to in his declaration, which would pertain to a specialist investigative magistrate. “He is not a special prosecutor; if he has received complaints, he should bring them to the attention of the Public Ministry” Mr. Cedeño went on to add. Former presidential candidate Juan Jovane also questioned Mr. Diaz presence on the scene: “One wonders why he did not send an assistant on a fact finding mission” he declared.