Panama justice system open to corruption – US Report

PANAMANIAN justice institutions remain susceptible to corruption and performs poorly when investigating  money laundering, and complex financial crimes, says a recent US State  Department of report.

The report also considers that the accusatory system “is faster and transparent” compared to the inquisitorial system.

Iit warns that the Government should provide more resources to the accusatory ststem mechanism so that it can be effectively implemented.

According to the judicial calendar, this method would come into effect from September 2 this year in Panama, Colon, Darien and Kuna Yala. However, reports La Prensa  both the judiciary and the Public Ministry are underfunded for its implementation. The president of the Supreme Court, Jose Ayu Prado, aspires has called for  an extraordinary credit of $20 million to get thr ball rolling..

The paper addresses key aspects of the fight against organized crime, as well as the role of US programs running in Panama to combat the scourge. It says, for example, that the problems at the National Naval Air Service (Senan) persist and refers to “the poor logistics and maintenance of their systems, inadequate staffing, shortage of “high and medium grade” officers , as well as insufficient capacity to collect intelligence.

“Although Senan is increasing its training and equipment, the development of professional staff will take years,” the report says.

It indicated that to move their merchandise drug traffickers use the Colon Free Zone four container ports, airports and the Pan American highway.

“The United States maintains a strong partnership with all security services Panama. The biggest challenge of the Government of Panama is the inter-relationship between entities dedicated to fighting drug trafficking security ” says the report

The cooperation  of SENAFRONT for patrol work in Darie is not overlooked.

The report  notes that Panama reported the seizure of 52.3 tons of cocaine in 2015 [the Panamanian government reported 58 tons], while in 2014 it seized 35.1 tons. It says that 2.5 tons of marijuana, 20.1 kilos of heroin were seized along with  $7.4 million in cash during operations related to drug trafficking, an increase of $2.3 million compared to 2014.