The presiding judge at the First Court of Instruction of the National District, who is in charge of processing fraud cases involving the banks Peravia and Providencial and that of finances company Inversa, complained of the poor physical condition of her courtroom. Magistrate Keila Sinihi Perez Santana said that this year she has had to work under very tenuous circumstances.
With over 20 years of service in the judicial system, the judge said that her working conditions had never been so bad. She says it has been months since she has used her office because of its poor condition. She said the judges need offices that permit them to concentrate on the work at hand, not an office without curtains, without space and without air-conditioning.
She told reporters from the El Nacional on 31 October 2017 that instead her office is being used as a stockroom for the big cases they are working on.
Perez Santana said she was doing everything possible in order not to stop the processes and proceedings of these cases. She added that since 2013 her courtroom has been steadily deteriorating and that this year’s gotten even worse.
After the newspaper published an article about the deplorable conditions at the Palace of Justice in Ciudad Nuevo, the director of the Administrative Career at the Council of Judicial Power, Justiniano Montero carried out an inspection and concluded that with computers chairs and air-conditioning the court offices would be functional. But after the air-conditioning units were installed they cannot be turned on because the electricity wiring in the building cannot carry the load.
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El Nacional
1 November 2017
