Calls for ousting Social Security boss and board

Call for ousting Social Security boss and board

MOVIN, One of Panama’s most influential civic groups, has called for the investigation of Estivenson Girón the embattled director of the Social Security Fund (CSS),  and the resignation of the entire board of directors.

The public request was made through a statement in which they base their request on the operational problems of the institution, with “the most recent of the mistakes” the holding of the World Social Security Forum in Panama from November 13 to 18 with a   $ 2.1 million price tag despite the refusal of the Comptroller General to endorse the contract.

“In this unsustainable situation it is imperative to immediately investigate the actions of directors and their advisers, appointments and hiring, at least of this administration and an expedited pronouncement by the Supreme Court of Justice to the comptroller’s petition.

“In addition, all those responsible, administratively  and the board of directors, must make their positions available, and  face their responsibility before the law,” said a statement from the institution.

On Wednesday, November 9, the Comptroller of the Republic, Federico Humbert, endorsed “on the insistence” of the board of directors of the Social Security Fund (CSS) the contract that entity signed with the company Festieventos, S.A. For $2.1 million for the holding of a congress.

Nullity appeal
In statements, Humbert explained that “the Comptroller is not omnipotent,” so that if the majority of the board of Social Security approved by “insistence” the Comptroller would then be required by law to “endorse the contract that was presented to us.”

Humbert said that he will demand the nullity of the contract endorsed to the Social Security Fund (CSS) for the world forum before the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.

“The Comptroller cannot accept that by way of a legal insistence the treasury is injured, allowing the execution of  a contract that is clearly onerous for the State,” said Humbert, who endorsed the contract at the insistence of the CSS board.

“And if the Comptroller’s office had to proceed legally, because we feel that because of an insistence the best interests of the State have been injured, we will have  tp do it Girón said that in 2015 the International Social Security Association (Assis) chose Panama to host the forum, which is held every three years. The last forum of its kind in America, the official was in Mexico in 1992.

“[The forum] serves to promote social security, it is the largest showcase in social security in the world, and comes at a time that we are now reviewing laws, reviewing the IVM [Disability, Old Age and Death] program,” he said.

Footnote: the director of the CSS during the Martinelli administration Guillermo Sáez Llorens is facing criminal investigations after surviving several major scandals while in office