Former financial manager used funds for family parties complaint
A complaint has been filed against Emma Reyes, the former director of the Financial Analysis Unit in the government of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), for allegedly using vehicles and funds of the entity for personal purposes and breaking a privacy law by leaking information of investigations to the media
The complaint was filed Wednesday August 3 by Alexis Bethancourt, who replaced Reyes in July.
The origin of the action is in an “anonymous complaint” that was received in the unit which accused Reyes and other officials of the entity of illegally supplying information to the media. The unit is required by law to keep information it collects confidential. Violating this law could result in up to five years in prison, according to the criminal code. The week prior to the May 4 elections, the Journal of the Americas, which is published in Miami, carried information from an alleged investigation of President Juan Carlos Varela, then a candidate of the opposition Panameñista party. The complaint calls for the preventive detention of Reyes. it also, states that Reyes allegedly used resources of the entity to celebrate the birthday of her daughter, and used a vehicle belonging to the agency for personal use. It also mentioned that the former director hired a photographer with agency funds to work on “private activities” of theReyes’ family.