12 36. On July 7, 1996, a newspaper published a piece of news about an alleged check that would have been donated for the reelection campaign of the former Attorney General as a legislator in 1994 by two companies that allegedly would have been used by criminal organizations to launder money from narcotics trafficking.20 37. On July 8, 1996 the alleged victim and Mr. Adel Zayed, father to Walid Zayed, had a telephone conversation on the possible publication of a press report stating that, unlike the company belonging to Walid Zayed, the two companies that allegedly had financed the 1994 reelection campaign of the former Attorney General as a legislator, with drug trafficking money, had not been investigated for the alleged perpetration of the money laundering offense.21 38. On July 9, 1996 the same newspaper published the news where it held the check allegedly drawn to finance the campaign of the former Attorney General to be false.22 39. In the course of the extortion investigation commenced in connection with the facts detrimental to Walid Zayed (supra para. 35), on July 10, 1996, by means of Official Letters No. 2412 and No. 2413, Prosecutor Prado requested leave from the former Attorney to have the telephones at the Zayed family residence recorded, and to authorize the Policía Nacional de Colón [Colón National Police] to record and to film the conversations and meetings Walid Zayed might hold with his extorters, exempting those with his next of kin and defense counsel.23 40. Also on July 10, 1996, Prosecutor Prado, by means of Official Letter No. 2414, forwarded to the former Attorney two cassettes and a videocassette. One of the cassettes and the videocassette contained recordings of the conversations held with the alleged extorters, done on the motion of Mr. Walid Zayed and made inside the Colón National Police Station. The other cassette, according to such Official Letter, had been provided by the Policía Técnica Judicial [Technical Judicial Police] and contained “telephone calls allegedly made from the [Z]AYED family residence, also without leave from the Ministerio Público [Office of the Public Attorneys], for it had been made by private initiative.”24 20 Cf. “La Prensa” newspaper issue dated July 7, 1996 (Case File of Appendixes to the Reply to the Application, Book I, Appendix 3, folio 1449.) 21 Cf. Unnumbered Official Letter dated July 16, 1996, signed by Dalma de Duque, Jefa del Departamento de Prensa y Divulgación del Ministerio Público [Prosecuting Office Press and Social Communications Department Chief] (Case File of Appendixes to the Reply to the Application, Book I, Appendix 5, folios 1457 and 1459). Official Letter PGN – SG – 047 – 99 dated May 24, 1999, signed by the former Attorney General in response to the set of questions sent him by the Procuraduría de la Administración [Office of the Solicitor for the Administration] (Case File of Appendixes to the Reply to the Application, Book IV, Appendix B-1), and Statement by Mr. Tristán Donoso at the public hearing held on August 12, 2008 before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. 22 Cf. “La Prensa” newspaper issue dated July 9, 1996 (Case File of Appendixes to the Reply to the Application, Book I, Appendix 13, folios 1532 and 1533.) 23 Cf. Official Letter No. 2412, dated July 10, 1996 (Case File of Appendixes to the Reply to the Application, Appendix B-2, Book II, Volume 1, folios 3828 and 3829) and Official Letter No. 2413 dated July 10, 1996, (Case File of Appendixes to the Reply to the Application, Appendix B-2, Book II, Volume 1, folios 3830 and 3831), both of them signed by Prosecutor José E. Ayu Prado Canals, Fiscal Tercero del Circuito Judicial de Colón [Colon Court Circuit Prosecutor Number Three]. 24 Cf. Official Letter No. 2414 dated July 10, 1996, signed by Prosecutor José E. Ayu Prado Canals, Fiscal Tercero del Circuito Judicial de Colón [Colon Court Circuit Prosecutor Number Three] (Case File of Appendixes to the Application, Appendix 8, folios 1519 and 1520).