Thieving devils named in multi-million compensation scam

The names of the owners of hundreds of Panama ’s diablos rojos (red devils)  -outdated US school buses-  under investigation in a multi-million dollar compensation scam, were published by TVN on Wednesday, October 31.

The denunciations were interposed by the ex-director of the ATTT Juan Pablo Mora; the former Minister of the Presidency Demetrio Papadimitriu; Gabriel Peñaloza; Edilma Alonso; Eduardo Samudio; Rubiela Ramos de Palacio; the lawyer Víctor Martínez; and an anonymous report.

The investigations by prosecutors began on October 15. The alleged irregularities occurred because compensation payments were made for buses that did not have receipts showing they had been discarded; others who were not providing bus services but were compensated others made last-minute route changes through brokers to qualify for higher payouts.

In 2010, more than 2,700 “red devils ” went out of circulation to make way for the Metrobuses. with the owners receiving  an estimated compensation of over $96 million

The compensations were given depending on the service provided by each bus:

Red devils trunk route: $25,000 ;  Red Devils Corredor routes $35,000; Corridor buses $50,000; Corridor “Fridge type” buses : $75,000 .