Mulino said lying as he dodges blame for failed radars

PANAMA’S former Security Minister, Jose Raul Mulino got some angry responses from former colleagues after he appeared on TV and attempted to shift the blame for the purchasing of nonfunctioning radar equipment to the former Ministry of Finance.(MEF)

Mulino said on  Telemetro Reports, on Friday, August 1  that the $125 purchase from the Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica was negotiated in 2010 by the MEF, which was then under the leadership of Alberto Vallarino and the the current  Finance Minister Dulcidio  de La Guardia,who  was deputy minister .

De La Guardia shot back in a press reease: “Jose Raul Mulino is trying to evade responsibility in handling this matter. He want to go from being the champion of the radars to ‘I did not see or know anything,’

He said  that the MEF not negotiate purchase contracts for goods or works or negotiatecontracts that have nothing to do with the financial programming of the state. Its role is to secure funding to complete the work and programs of governments.

“Every state ministry negotiates and administers the technical requirements of the equipment purchased and the capacity of its partners to deliver these goods and services. This is the case of the Ministry of Health with hospitals, the Ministry of Education with schools, the Ministry of Public Works with road infrastructure is the case of the Ministry of Security with these radars, “he added.

In the Finmeccanica case the MEF participated only in the financial programming regarding interest rates, currencies and payment, as established by Law 97 of 1998, and not on the decision to acquire radars or determine its specifications technical or price, said De La Guardia.

“Mulino  is  lying!” Was the blunt reply of Vallarino., who was Finance Minister during the CD-Panmeñista coalition era, reports La PrensaVallarino, addiedthat the ex-minister should take responsibility for the problems that have arisen with the radars that were part of the contract. 

“The ministries and state institutions negotiate contracts individually. They negotiate their contracts and administer them. They establish specifications for contracts or the purchase of state assets,” Vallarino said.“President Juan Carlos Varela said that next week the Cabinet will announce the measures the government will take to “safeguard the interests of Panama and effectively punish those responsible for Finmeccanica case,” says the MEF releas

Mulino through his ​​Twitter account said he was asking for courtesy room to talk in the next Cabinet Council, on Tuesday.

The 19 radars acquired  were acquired from a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, for $ 125 million, and the deal is now the subject of  lawsuits in Italy for alleged corruption.