OPINION: Killing Panama investment reputation

hoyporhoy La Prensa  May 30

FOR MANY YEARS, Panama has been recognized as a financial center with great attractions for international investment.

However, in recent days, the country has faced serious accusations by the international community, precisely because it has become evident that the lack of rigor with which, for more than three government periods, the supervisory bodies have managed their institutions.

The role of these bodies is essential to ensure a waterproof jurisdiction over  those who become unscrupulous expert  law manipulators to benefit themselves and their insatiable checkbook, relegating the country’s reputation to the background. Officials of all control agencies, beyond fulfilling a bureaucratic role, have a duty to ensure strict compliance with the law, transparency and due process.

Laxity in the application of the rules and the lack of certainty of exemplary punishment should be in the past. Complicity in international corruption and indifference to their own, cannot be the future of Panama.