Ex-Minister loses appeal in transit scam probe

A Former Government Minister  must appear before anti-corruption prosecutors  to face questioning about alleged embezzlement related to compensation of  owners of Panama’sT diablos rojos (red devils) buses when they were replaced by the Metro bus system

The eighth criminal judge, Bárbara Batista, denied Jorge Ricardo Fábrega an appeal seeking to annul the order of inquiry.

Lawyer Eduardo Sequeira, filed the appeal for annulment claiming that when the prosecutor’s office began the investigation Fabrega was acting as Minister of Government and, therefore, the said agency of instruction did not have the competence to investigate it.

Judge Batista denied the appeal, as, at the time copies of the file went to the Attorney General to assume the investigation of Fabrega he was a minister of State, but once he had lost his status as a minister the Attorney General’s Office returned the summaries to continue the investigation.

Fábrega was appointed Minister of Government on January 13, 2012, and before, between September 2009 and 2012, he was the director of the Transit Authority (ATTT).

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office ordered his investigation because part of the red devil’s bus compensation – under investigation for alleged anomalies- was during his administration.

The case file includes an audit of the Comptroller General revealing r alleged irregularities in the process, during which the State disbursed $94.8 million. Of 2,649 compensation certificates, the prosecutor’s office is investigating 573 for alleged anomalies.