Business leaders call for common front to avoid Panama chaos

Panama ’s current judicial crisis is an embarrassment to the nation and united action is needed to avoid the country falling into chaos said Panama’s  Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (Cciap) on Sunday, August 19.

The statement refers to a meeting between Attorney General Prosecutor Kenia Porcell and the presiding magistrate of the Supreme Court Hernán De León.

According to Porcell, the magistrate confessed he was the object of alleged “blackmail” because of a recording of that would be used to coerce and “knock down” the wiretapping case against former President Ricardo Martinelli.

“The latest scandal embarrasses the country” and creates an institutional crisis said the  Cciap press release.

“At times like this, it is necessary that the best wills of the nation look for the most advisable solutions before chaos ends up imposing itself.”

The Chamber said  that there is an “inability of the administration  to arbitrate the answers demanded  in  this critical hour for Panama ” to recover the lost  stability in the country  and  avoid “the collapse of the scaffolding”

For this reason, Cciap said  that together with other representative bodies of the private sector, it  will  work to implement a common front to propose formulas that “lead us to restore credibility and trust in  the country’s institutions “