Corruption watchdog follows dubious land deal
AN INVESTIGATION into a dubious land deal involving a former mayor of La Chorrera uncovered by a newspaper investigation has been opened by The National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (Antai),
The agency headed by Angelica Maytín, said that it will open an ex officio investigation to determine if there were infringements of the Code of Ethics of Public Servants in the sale of a land by a representative of a corregimiento In La Chorrera, in 2013.
La Estrella de Panamá, on July 26, ran a story titled “When municipal land is sold to friends of the mayor ” It is exposed how a strategic strip was titled and then sold almost for the same price to the representative of the corregimiento where the lot is located and the daughter of the then mayor of Chorrera, Temístocles Herrera Domínguez, who soon resold it for a sum five times greater.
Herrera Domínguez, who is currently the governor of Panama West, denied traffic influence in the purchase of the lot.
The director of Antai said that an investigation will be opened to determine possible ethics breaches like conflicts of interest and “facts that could represent administrative irregularities in the sale of the land.” The anti-corruption ‘czarina’ confirmed the information through immediate messaging reports La Estrella.
Juan Carlos Araúz, president of the National Bar Association, said that the control entities – Comptroller General of the Republic, Antai and the Public Ministry – must carry out an investigation to ensure that the State has not been used by its officials to achieve personal gain.
The lawyer added that the officials have the obligation to respond to the reports to dissipate doubts about their participation in the events.
Herrera Domínguez, as mayor of the district (2009-2014), sold a lot to an official who kept it for just a month and a half before transferring it to two other people for almost the same cost ($3,200).
The new owners were the daughter of Herrera Domínguez, Marisín Herrera Barrios, and the representative of the corregimiento where the lot is located.
Herrera Barrios is currently the administrative director of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
According to her resume, published on the Ministry of Finance (MEF) website , she has also held the positions of director of Regional Planning and Estate Assets in that Ministry, and s served as an executive assistant in the Chancellery in the last government between 2009 and 2011 .
She was also assistant to the First Notary of Panama, a legal assistant at a private law firm and a television presenter.
She is a lawyer with a Master’s degree in Public Management and Leadership from the Incae Business School and the Institute of Advanced Studies in Administration.
