Panama Mayors no bid spending on meaningless consultants gets rapped by vice president

 From the day he cavorted on the steps of the Electoral Tribunal to celebrate the news that he could become mayor although he had forgotten to mention his ownership of a US passport, Ricardo Bosco Vallarino has hit the headlines, although not in the way most politicians would welcome.

He was elected mayor after an unsubstantiated report that the front runner in the race had received big donations from a pozi operator, who was late convicted and jailed for 32 years, and now sits in jail in the US awating trial on money laundering charges.
Since then, Bosco’s dancing feet have been planted in one messy situation after another, starting with his approval of a cheque to send his wife on a jaunt to Taiwan, through the abortive Christmas Village program that cost the city dearly and led to major damage to the Cinta Costera; scandals over no-bid contracts and having his salary garnisheed following a slander case over his unbuttoned lip directed at the previous mayor during the election campaign.
The disasters climaxed when the Government set up a special organization to handle the city’s garbage, after the mayor had issued a multi million dollar contract for trucks (again without bidding).
Now he has hit the headlines again in La Prensa and in  Panama America which reports on juicy direct contracts handed out to buddies in the Panamañista party.
This has drawn the ire of Panama’s vice president Juan Carlos Varela, who is also president of the Panamañista Party, and  lamented the mayors predeliction for expenditure on external consultancies. “I think consultants are meaningless” he said.

 "It is unfortunate that this money is spent when the accounts of the Municipality of Panama are in a difficult situation and suppliers are not paid on time” he said

One contract went to the former head of the Municipal police who resigned from his $2,500 a month job and got a no-bid contract with the city as a security consultant for $285,000. A colleague got a similar no-bid contract for $95,000.
The lucky recipients were Juan Carlos Galesio, and Dr Alexis Pinzón. None of the many contracts was objected to by the Comptroller of the Republic, Gioconda Torres de Bianchini.

Galesio heads Juelpa SA, whose Vice President Victor Hugo Morales Bonilla, works in the office of the Minister of Economy and Finance, Alberto Vallarino.

Alexis Pinzón, was Health Vice-minister during the government of Mireya Moscoso.

International lawyer and former member Panameñista Party member Pedro Sitton Ureta, who defended Bosco’s holiday villas, got $75,000 for consulting. The goal is not stated Sitton Ureta, who now works in a Public Prosecutor’s Office, told Panama America that he would not speak because of confidentiality issues.
The Comptroller endorsed, on January 21 a $58,000 consultant for a "conservation diagnosis and technical specifications for the preservation and maintenance of the “House of the Municipality.(City Hall)"

The mayor,in a statement,said that consulting projects involved the most important issues within the city. Three of them had been completed. The statement does not detail the amounts