OFF THE CUFF: Panama wallows in the mud of corruption

TO NO ONE’S SURPRISE Panama continues to wallow around in the bottom of the corruption barrel with countries like Egypt, Liberia Gabon and Armenia,  and the world knows it,  as the country continues to do poorly in a corruption perception index, coming in worse than Italy, and equaling Armenia, Colombia, Liberia, Egypt and Gabon.

The latest corruption perception index compiled by Transparency International, shows that El Salvador, Costa Rica, Cuba and Brazil all come ahead of Panama, and it’s worth noting that both the Central American countries have put former presidents behind bars. While Panama with 37 points registered a slight improvement compared to its previous rating, coming in at 94 out of 174 countries that were ranked. The regional average was 45 points.
Last year, Panama scored 35 points and placed 102nd, but with the current crop of high profile corruption cases it looks likely that we will slip further next year, unless brownie points are given for jailing high profile offenders. So far a minnow, without political pull or a fancy lawyer, and who was not guilty of gargantuan theft from the public trough got a six year sentence for stealing $5000 .

Stealing  big time  from the public purse, translates to stealing funds that could be used for education, health care,  providing reasonable pensions, fixing the holes in the road, or whatever you care to add. Some exemplary really tough sentences might improve Panama’s ranking, but don’t bet on things moving through the court system fast enough for inclusion in next year’s list.
In its overall assessment of this year, the organization gave Panama low marks for corporate secrecy and money laundering.
“Corruption is a problem in all economies and requires major financial centers in the European Union and the United States to act in a coordinated way with fast-growing economies to prevent it,” the organization said in a press release.
Now what about Financial Pacific and all the banks that accepted without question, large deposits from some of the “celebrities” now under investigation?