$1 million judicial travel expenses for audit

THE OVERSEAS jaunts   of Panama’s Supreme court judges over a two year period are to be investigated  following a public outcry. 

The Ccomptroller General, Federico Humbert, has  ordered an audit of the trips made by the judicial and administrative staff  from January 2014 to December 2015 at a time  when Jose Ayu Prado was the chief magistrate

Notice of the audit was sent to Ayu Prado, who was controversially re-elected for a second presidential term, in a note from Humbert, on  February 19.

The comptroller has appointed Liborio Caballero, head of Audit, and three more professionals  “If necessary, in the course of the audit additional staff will be assigned” said Humbert.

The Court has paid almost a million dollars in travel judicial and administrative officials in the period to be audited. A note sent by the Supreme Court said that in the audit 2014  period $995,731.84 was spent.

The  three  judges who have accumulated most  miles,are  Ayu Prado  who led the pack with 23 trips; Fabrega, 17, and De Leon 16. Abel Zamorano made 16 voyages during thet period.

In July 2015, about 15 groups of civil society organizations filed a request for investigation of the trips  to the President of the National Assembly Ruben De The request was forwarded to comptroller.

In January, the Citizens Alliance for Justice filed a new complaint about “foreign travel and excessive travel expenses charged by the judges” of the Court.

That same month, Ayu Prado asked the Comptroller to review the allocations for foreign travel of officials of the Supreme Court.

“If the community feels calmer with an audit, we have no problem, we are committed to transparency and accountability,” said Ayu Prado.

The courts are faced with a massive backlog of cases,