Another Lawmaker charged in Assembly payroll scam

Two additional criminal complaints against a  Democratic Change deputy were filed in the Supreme Court by Panama’s  Comptroller General on Thursday, August 6.

Aris De Icaza is charged with  alleged irregularities in the appointment of people in the  National Assembly  and joins a growing list of deputies  whose fraudulent use of taxpayer funds  are being revealed in audits

The complaints were presented by the comptroller Federico Humbert, through the lawyer Carlos Muñoz Pope.

The first complaint says that between July 1, 2014, and  December 31, 2016, ten

people were hired through the Assembly forms assigned to  Icaza. For the same period of time, the group he hired worked for the company Claramar S.A.

The people charged a total of $$81,974 in 17 signed contracts of the deputy’s payroll, and at the same time worked in a private company without rendering service in the Assembly.

The second complaint indicates that De Icaza’s payrolls paid six checks in the name of Ángel Rodríguez Quintero, for a total amount of $ 5, 273 between December 23, 2011, and April 23, 2011. The comptroller said in the complaint that Rodríguez Quintero made statements in the media indicating that he was included in the contracts of the Assembly but never worked there.

The endorsement of the cheques are different, to the signature on the cedula of Rodríguez Quintero, says the complaint.

The checks issued in the name of Rodríguez Quintero were deposited in the accounts of La Gran Cadena Q and Shanghai Enterprise, S.A.

Judge Angela Russo was assigned as rapporteur for the two complaints

The Court has already admitted a previous complaint filed by Humbert against De Icaza,  for alleged illegal acts in contracts in the Assembly.