No wrongdoing, police chief miss-spoke — Minister

Panama’s Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino, just back from trips to Mexico and Colombia to discuss security deals, moved quickly to quell any expectations that Police Director Gustavo Pérez would be facing a criminal investigation.

He said on Friday, February 4, that there does not appear to be any wrongdoing on the part of the police chief in the handling of an investigation into financial irregularities in the department under his watch.

Mulino said that the department is conducting an internal investigation into the "financial irregularities" that have led to at least one resignation from the agency.
Legal experts have said that the decision not to turn the matter over to prosecutors is a violation of the law.

Mulino said  his department first has to determine if there is enough evidence for a criminal case. The confusion has been caused by a "bad explanation" of the situation provided by Pérez, who initially said that the matter would remain internal.
The minister said the police chief miss-spoke.