Former Mayor loses electoral shield

Panama’s former mayor Bosco Vallarino,  has lost his protective shield from Panama’s quaint law which protects candidates for political office from criminal investigation.

The magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal (TE) approved the lifting of the electoral criminal jurisdiction for the former mayor who is being targeted by judicial authorities.

Vallarino, remembered more for his missteps than his achievements faces an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Public Prosecutor’s Office for allegedly committing crimes against the administration, for alleged irregularities in the transfer of funds to mayors and communal boards of the country in the previous government.

He was mayor of the Municipality of Panama between July 2009 and January 2012, when he resigned from the post under pressure from Ricardo Martinelli who replaced him with one of his own party insiders. Vallarino won the electoral penal jurisdiction after trying to obtain a candidacy for deputy in the Panameñista Party primary held on October 28 but lost.