A Panamanian court has sentenced two former National Security Council (CSN) agents, William Pittí and Ronny Rodríguez, to six years in prison for embezzlement in connection with the disappearance of equipment used to carry out unauthorized interceptions of private communications during the government of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014).
What Happened
Judge Águeda Rentería of the First Liquidating Criminal Court issued the conviction against Pittí and Rodríguez after finding both men bore a degree of responsibility for the loss of the equipment assigned to the CSN during that period, according to judicial sources confirmed to La Prensa.
The two former intelligence agents had been fugitives for 12 years before surrendering to authorities on March 26. Since then, they have been held in provisional detention at the Judicial Investigation Directorate (DIJ).
At a hearing held on April 24, anti-corruption prosecutor Javier Cuadra argued that Rodríguez and Pittí, as agents of the CSN’s Intelligence Directorate, were responsible for handling and safeguarding the equipment and therefore must have known its final fate when Martinelli’s term ended on June 30, 2014.
The prosecutor also stated that the equipment was purchased by the CSN in 2010 through the now-defunct Social Investment Fund (FIS) for nearly $13.4 million. The system was housed in a restricted-access room in Building 150 of the CSN complex at Quarry Heights in Ancón, and Rodríguez and Pittí were part of the small group of agents authorized to enter that office.
Several CSN agents testified that Pittí and Rodríguez held magnetic cards used to open the doors to the office where the equipment was kept, and that no other officials were authorized to enter the site. Iris del Carmen Rodríguez, the CSN’s former director of information technology, told prosecutors that the system managed by the two defendants had cabling different from the rest of the equipment used by other officials. Elvis Muñoz, another former CSN official, testified that the equipment was capable of geolocating people and intervening in computers, and that everything was managed by the two accused from Building 150.
Background
The case is one of the most emblematic judicial proceedings stemming from the Martinelli era, centered on a sophisticated surveillance system used for telephone interceptions affecting 150 people. The investigation included inspections of CSN facilities and verification of how the equipment was purchased.
Other high-profile figures have already faced justice in the same case. Giacomo Tamburelli, the former director of the Social Investment Fund, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and has since died. Gustavo Pérez, the former director of the National Police, was convicted at first instance, but the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court later revoked that decision and acquitted him.
An arrest order in the case was issued by the Public Ministry in December 2014, but it took until March of this year for the two former agents to surrender to authorities and agree to face trial, ending more than a decade as fugitives.
What This Means for Panama
The conviction closes one chapter of a scandal that has haunted Panama’s institutions for more than a decade, holding former intelligence officials personally accountable for the loss of a multi-million-dollar surveillance system bought with public funds.
However, the legal saga is not over. The same court must still rule on the innocence or guilt of Pittí and Rodríguez on separate charges of illegal telephone wiretapping carried out with the equipment to the detriment of 150 people. A further ruling is also pending related to illegal interceptions conducted between 2009 and 2014.
For Panama, the case underscores the long road of accountability for abuses of state surveillance power — and demonstrates that even after 12 years on the run, former officials can ultimately be brought before the courts. The upcoming wiretapping verdicts will be closely watched as the final measure of justice for the 150 victims of the illegal surveillance.
This story was originally reported by La Prensa.