OPINION: Deputies on take run for cover

Hoyporhoy  La Prensa Mar. 19

DURING the last two weeks, Panamanian society has shuddered to read reports of serious irregularities occurring in the National Assembly.

Much has been speculated about the origin of this investigation, forgetting that this medium [La Prensa] spent  more than six months scrutinizing contracts of employment and donations (which are public) and in face-to-face interviews with witnesses.

Both politicians and theorists of elaborate conspiracies try to explain the purpose and sources of information for  the research, thereby distracting attention from the problem that gave rise to the report: the Assembly handles tens of millions of  funds with very few controls, with destinies we are still unaware of – though it does not take very much imagination to guess where they will go; that very few deputies escape this systematized scheme and that none of those who are in this want to be  held accountable for money that is not theirs, but for all those who pay taxes.

Each case deserves to be investigated, and not only in the Supreme Court. There are also officials who cannot be investigated by those judges.