11 deputies named in sports scam probe

The Supreme Court judge   Hernán De León, who is under  his own cloud related to the alleged sale  of  judgements has been  appointed rapporteur to admit or not a complaint against 11 deputies of the National Assembly for the alleged commission of the crime of embezzlement to the detriment of the Panama Sports Institute (Pandeportes), through  transfers of money to  sports organizations and sports federations.

The legal action was presented by the  independent presidential candidate Ricardo Lombana, against the deputies of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD)  deputies Benicio Robinson, Javier Ortega, Alfredo Perez, Iván Picota, Zulay Rodríguez, and Néstor Guardia; Panameñista Party  deputies Adolfo Valderrama and Katleen Levy;and of Cambio Democrático (CD)deputies Carlos Afú and Juan Poveda.

“I ask Judge De León, as well as the entire Court, not to ignore the enormous and overwhelming evidence that the whole country has seen of the waste of public funds and to admit the evidence and process it,”  said Lombana

The alleged infringements s were revealed by a La Prensa investigation, which documented millions of dollars in contributions given by Pandeportes to federations, leagues, sports organizations and individuals between 2014 and 2017, that in many cases never reached their destination. There were cases in which the funds went to non-existent leagues.

At the same time, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office is conducting an investigation against individuals and officials who may have acted irregularly in the payment of money.

The Comptroller General of the Republic advanced an audit, which in its preliminary phase has detected alleged anomalies in of $9 million, “which were not sustained.”