Foreign corruption debate stalled

THE INDEPENDENT Movement (Movin) hit out on Saturday  April 23,at the  delay of the  National Assembly in discussing bill 305, which amends the Public Procurement Act, and whose main weakness  is its “inability to disable businesses convicted of corruption abroad.”

The criticism comes at a time when the Brazilian construction giant, Odebrecht which has received over $9 billion in contracts from Panama is once again front and center in investigations alleging moving scores of millions of bribery  dollars through Panama and  whose former  president and numerous directors are behind bars.

Movin considered the bill, which began as “an institutional effort” with the participation of unions and civic organizations, finished “as a project with serious weaknesses that could not be remedied in the first debate by the unwillingness of the deputies and pressures of the  Executive”.

In a statement the movement said that approval of the project seeks to “ensure the proper use of resources of all Panamanians.”

In response, Deputy Luis Eduardo Quirós said that this is a complex project and cannot be limited to a single article. “It contemplates positive developments in terms of transparency (…) but taking care not stop operation by including unnecessary shields,” he said.

The full Assembly began discussing the project in second debate last Thursday and hopes to pick up this week , but without presenting the minority report by the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD).

Panameñista deputy and chairman of Economy and Finance the Miguel Salas, confirmed that the PRD withdrew the report on Thursday.