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PROVINCE OF COCLÉ
Judge does not suspend suit against Fifer
Olmedo Rodríguez 21 Apr 2017 - 00: 00h
Topics: CSS Richard Fifer Petaquilla Gold Supreme Court of Justice
Richard Fifer, in the audience. Expand Image Richard Fifer, in the audience.
Richard Fifer, in the audience. Ana Rentería
In a closed-door hearing, Coclé Province's Compliance Court did not accede to a request from the Social Security Fund (CSS) to revoke the suspension of the process against the former governor of Coclé Richard Fifer , for the alleged Retention of quotas of Petaquilla Gold and Panama Development of Infrastructures .
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Compliance judge Domingo Montenegro determined that he could not accede to the suspension of the process, because the agreement between Fifer and CSS for the payment of the quotas owed establishes a period of three years for its fulfillment, and that time has not ended.
The alleged quotas amount to $ 3.1 million, in the case of Petaquilla Gold, and another $ 3.3 million in the Panama Development of Infrastructure.
Humberto Ledezma , legal representative of CSS in the process, said the petition was made based on the employer's failure to meet the monthly payment.
Meanwhile , Tomás Góndola, lawyer of Fifer, indicated that there was no argument to open the process. Gondola said that his defendant is going to face the commitment with CSS, and assured that a partial payment was made in December 2016 of the quotas, although he acknowledged that in 2017 they have not fulfilled the payments.
Fifer said he is willing to fulfill the commitment, but asked the CSS to inform him the final amount of the debt.
He indicated that by the middle of this year, Petaquilla Gold could enter the preoperative stage for the extraction of minerals, but without commercial purposes.
The Court of Compliance announced to the parties that next August 11 will be a hearing to address the issue of late payments that the employer maintains with CSS.
The lawsuit is being investigated by the Sixth Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and was suspended since February 4, after a Coclé guarantor judge accepted a request from Fifer's lawyers to reach settlement with the CSS.
Fifer has been unable to leave the country since August 2016.
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