Chasing corruption on a tricycle
PANAMA’S Public Ministry has done a good job in in recent months but it needs a larger budget because you can’t chase corruption on a tricycle says The director general of the National Authority of Transparency and Access to Information (Antai), Angelica Maytín Justiniani,
“I would say that never before have we sseen such positive action leading to prosecution,” said Maytín.
Speaking on the Radar program she explained that the agency has about 164 open investigations, of which 17 are high-profile figures who occupied high positions in the last administration. “Including the former president [Ricardo Martinelli] and several former ministers.”
She also recalled the removal of a judge of the Supreme Court and the investigation against another.
“Such things did not happen before, even though there were reasons for it to happen … all these are positive signs,” she said
She argued that just the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Imelcf) requires $22 million in order to give it more human and technological resources.
According to Maytín, the accusatory penal system requires an Institute of Forensic Medicine with more resources, “and the truth, is if you are pursuing corruption with a tricycle you are not going to reach the corrupt.”
In six months her office opened 100 investigations, “half of them resolved.” About 20 of them are about the “denial” of access to information.
“In the past 20 years no one was sanctioned for acts of nepotism … now we have managed that the authorities have dismissed or requested a resignation of those who have committed acts of nepotism”.