OFF THE CUFF: Former tourism irregularities go to prosecutor

THE PROFLIGATE spending habits of former Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP) boss Salomon Shamah are under the microscope  and  12 cases  have been sent to the Public Prosecutor to investigate alleged irregularities in his administration.

Among the anomalies are possible overruns and claims of late payments from companies that cannot sustain that they provided a service or a product sold to the institution.

Jesus Sierra, new administrator of the ATP said that with the submission of complaints to the relevant authorities they will seek to see that the overruns and other anomalies does not go unpunished.

Shamah, a close confident of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli, who refused to fire him when the United States cancelled his visa for alleged involvement in narco-trafficking, publicly acknowledged that when he took on his tourism role, he had no knowledge of the industry. His early missteps included an ever increasing demand for money for the Panama city carnival, which Martinelli had vowed would not receive a cent of government money.  Shamah claimed that the Carnaval  brought  tourists flocking to the city, a fact belied by hotel occupancy rates and deserted restaurants during the event.At his last stumbling venture he spent money on a no show artist and handed out direct contracts totsllinh hundreds of thousands of dollars to those with close ties to the administration.

http://newsroompanama.com/news/panama/panama-carnaval-spending-spree-continues-with-no-bid-deals

As a prime mover in  his party’s dirty tricks election campaign he must have been confident of retaining his job, and decided to move the ATP to lavish new offices  atop the Hilton Hotel on Avenida Balboa, where he could look out and view the presidential palace across the Bay. The move was made in December, 2013. In May, the following year, Shamah’s dreams collapsed as the electorate chose a new administration.

But when the new tourism team moved in they found, like many other institutions, that the coffers were empty and  they were faced with  a five year lease signed by Shamah with a monthly expenditure of $60,000.

La Prensa attempted to contact Shamah to discuss the lease but  he did not return calls made ​​to his cell.

Meanwhile his name has popped up in the Financial Pacific Scandal, as allegedly having asked for $1 million to get a person under investigation for embezzlement, out of jail.  Stay tuned.