Minister of Labor in alleged sweetheart deal with land purchase
On a day when the Ministry of Labor issued a 12 page tabloid trumpeting its achievements in the last 2 years, a fresh alleged scandal broke over the head of the minister.
La Estrella de Panama reported that The Minister of Labor, Alma Cortes,paid to the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA), only $534 for $88 hectares of land on a farm in Las Margaritas Chepo, along the Rio Mamoni.
The transaction was completed in March this year according to the registration of Agrarian Reform in Santiago de Veraguas.
The story broke while another newspaper, La Prensa carried a headline referring to Martinelli’s campaign slogan, “Enter with empty pockets, leave millionaires” which was aimed at politicians of previous administrations. A poll shows that seven out of ten citizens believe that nothing has changed or that enrichment has increased under Martinelli.
The purchase, said La Estrella would represent a violation of the Constitution, the Public Procurement Act and the Code of Ethics for public servants. All those provisions prohibit transactions between servers and the state.
Cortes defended her purchase saying that the publication did not give the date on which the purchase was made. But the Estrella investigation says that the land-was bought through a state- auction of $6 per acre and sold to Cortes by MIDA in March this year. Cortes said that she bought in 2011, but the process had taken since since 1992
The land, located on the banks of the Rio in Las Margaritas Mamoni Chepo has a rateable value in the area of $3,500. "These farms I bought in 1992 through the purchase of a possessory rights" The farm was pure "stubble."
Cortes was in hot water recently when she was forced to apologize for threatening a Panamanian investigative journalist, after La Prensa published research revealing anomalies in the Mi Primer Empleo (My first job) program administered by her department.
Cortes, speaking on Telemetro warned Santiago Cumbrera of La Prensa: “Cumbrera be careful with me, my reputation is priceless.," She made the statement publicly on Telemetro on Tuesday, June 21. Pushed by the president, Ricardo Martinelli, she climbed down and apologized.
