Assembly ordered to deliver $68 million scam records
Panama’s National Assembly is in contempt after failing to obey a Supreme Court order to deliver to La Prensa documentation of professional services contracts, totaling $68 million many of them false which opens the possibility of further exposure of temporary “contracts” for work not done
La Prensa previously revealed that, in addition to donations that did not reach their real beneficiaries, more than 17,000 contracts were processed for temporary work, of which a good part was not done.
“The ruling will have a major impact on the lawsuits of habeas data and is information that has public relevance, “because the public demands to know under what terms managed the contracts, said the ex-magistrate Esmeralda de Troitiño.
It is information claimed by citizens, said Juan Diego Vásquez, representative of the Alliance of Law Schools Of Panama. “It is urgent that the Assembly fulfil the order of the CSJ and the years of opacity are over. Thanks to that information, those responsible can be brought to justice promptly and effectively”
With this “historic” ruling, we will ask for the information to act, through criminal remedies, against those who participated in the contracts, said Annette Planells, of the Independent Movement (Movin).She added, that Movin had also asked the Assembly for the information but they denied it. Planells called for a review of the penalties for violating the Law of Transparency.
The Foundation for the Development of Citizen Liberty said the ruling is “good news”.
La Prensa revealed in a journalistic investigation that, in addition to the donations that did not reach their final beneficiaries, the temporary work contracts were delivered to people
that did not have to work and they only received 5% of the value of the contract. The rest was in the hands of deputy assistants.
Some 17,000 professional services contracts many of them, false were issued between July 2014 and December 2016, for the sum of $68 million.