Six  Assembly officials  fingered in $3 million scam

Panama’s Comptroller General has laid six complaints with the  Public Ministry (MP) against officials of the  National Assembly who allegedly exchanged 2,279 checks intended for donations to constituency projects.

A  forensic audit report presented,  with the complaints calculates more than $3 million possible damage to the state judicial sources told La Prensa.

Checks were changed at the Banco Nacional de Panamá branch in the Los Pueblos hopping center, according to the sources.

The MP reported that it will review the information to initiate an investigation.

In March 2017 a  La Prensa investigation revealed that between July 2014 and December 2016, the Assembly managed $14 million in donations that, for the most part, did not reach the original petitioners.

The Foundation for the Development of Citizen Liberty, the Panamanian chapter of Transparency International, denounced five officials of the Assembly mentioned in the media report.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor opened an investigation, but four months later, because the Assembly did not provide the information requested by prosecutor Javier Miter Burgos, he requested the Judicial Branch to provisionally file the case.