Corruption thrives and power group act with impunity

CORRUTION in Panama continues unabated with those inside the power circle safe from investigation while those at the other end of the scale, with no resources to defend themselves, get arrested.

The information, which will not come as a surprise to most citizens, comes from a report issued by the Panama chapter of Transparency International (TI), which found that there was no progress on the issue of fighting corruption in the country during the year.

"This year the situation remains grim ," said Angelica Maytín , chief executive of the Panamanian who presented the results of the study:  "The state of corruption in Panama – Year 2013 " .
Maytín said that “impunity” reflects the state of the administration of justice remains impunity in the country.
People who are part of the circle of power they were not investigated … "nothing happens," she said and mentioned the case of Financial Pacific , where " nothing happened" It was a scandal where allegations surfaced of a link to President Ricardo Martinelli.
The rope always breaks at the weak side , where junior staff or those who do not have the resources for a good defense are arrested, she said.
She also expressed the concern of the group over government advertising. There has been an "exacerbated abuse" of public resources in this area she said, adding that large sums of money have gone to media belonging to the president. which constitutes an imminent conflict of interest .
 She also referred to the issue of direct (no bid) contracting: "I do not feel that the authorities are paying any attention to this situation of direct contracting … This is serious.” she said .
Carlos Gasnell , said he has seen an exponential increase in the electoral subsidy.
"We have not seen the will to approve caps on campaigns and transparency mechanisms by private donations," he said.
He added that the state has increased significantly templates for creating new authorities but no results have emerged.
Maytín said "What we feel is that they want to give the illusion … It is a great illusion , that in the country there is transparency and access to information, "because we have an Authority [Authority of Transparency and Access to Information] or held anti-corruption conventions."