Varela reports on controlled discretionary spending

FORMER PRESIDENT Ricardo Martinelli splurged $5 million in discretionary funds during his last three months in office.In his first three months as president, Juan Carlos Varela spent $553,000 from the same purse.

That is around 11 percent the spending of his predecessor who handed out more than anyotheer president. The information was published on the transparency section of the web site of the Presidency. It was updated on Tuesday, September 30 for the first time since Varela took office. The site already includes information on travel expenses, recruitment of staff, institutional projects, statistics, the number of requests for information and costs of the discretionary spending of Varela and his predecessors. Varela had been criticized for not publishing the information earlier, since one of his campaign promises was greater transparency in his administration, 
PAYMENTS
According to the report, Varela spent $340,000 for a heart transplant in Minnesota for Joseph González, $114,000 for a liver transplant for Arnoldo in Buenos Aires, Argentina and $24,000 for liver and colon surgery for Eric Mascarin. Among other expenses were $10,000 for Colón fire victims, $7,000 for a band to participate in a parade in New York and $15,000 to support the episcopal ordination of Manuel Ochogavía as bishop-elect of Colón and Guna Yala. The report shows that Varela first disbursed discretionary funds on Aug. 22.