Assembly heads to court to block cookie jar fraud audit

WITHIN  three  hours of blocking  the office of Panama’s Comptroller General from  a forensic audit of  a multi-million dollar cookie jar for elected lawmakers  the president of the Legislative Body, Yanibel Ábrego, presented a protection of guarantees to suspend and revoke the order of the comptroller, Federico Humbert,

The amparo, which was assigned to magistrate Cecilio Cedalise, says that, by ordering the audit, Humbert “violated due process”, since he advanced an investigation for alleged irregularities in the handling of form 80  without notifying the president of the Assembly.

Abrego alleges that the comptroller did not listen to her arguments before opening the process.

The Comptroller’s Office reported that when its auditors arrived at the Assembly on Wednesday, May 16 Ábrego “did not allow the audit team to start the audit

The Comptroller, Federico Humbert, said that “he will use all legal actions necessary to ensure the management of these public funds. “

Carlos Lee, of the Citizens Alliance for Justice, said that the amparo presented by the president of the Assembly “is inadmissible”. He said that Article 280 of the Political Constitution is the base that allows the Comptroller’s Office to audit form 080

The auditors arrived at 9:00 a.m. in a small white bus, which went to the parking lot of the deputies, preventing access by the media reports  La Prensa, An hour later they left without having achieved their goal.

In a resolution dated May 15, Humbert told Ábrego that an- audit of form 080that began in April-, which has 3,508 officials  listed as the object of expenses for personal services, showed the “inefficiency of internal controls”, so there is no assurance that “real and effective service in favor of the State” was being provided.

This, according to the comptroller, shows “the possibility that events have been committed with the appearance of fact punishable.” Therefore, it resolved to gather “the elements of judgment to clarify the facts” through a forensic audit.

For that task, he added, the Office of the Comptroller General needs to receive testimonies, appoint experts, carry out inspections and carry out other tests instituted by the