Former University rector to trial on lease deal

The controversial former rector of the University of Panama (UP), Gustavo García de Paredes , who once ruled the higher education center like a personal fiefdom has been called  to trial by the Fourteenth Criminal Court for the alleged commission of the crime of speculation to the detriment of the university , following a lease deal  of university landa in Tocumen to the Atlantic Pacific Consortium..

In her considerations, Judge Vilma Urieta establishes that the audit report of the Comptroller General details that the UP corresponded to the amount of $20 million in lease, over a period of 40 years, but that in the investigation It was credited that the university would not receive the full amount and that only 50% of that amount would be paid.

The ruling details that there were anomalies, among which is the absence of a calculation of the percentage of annual increase in the appraisals, which had to be requested from the Comptroller and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The judge mentions as evidence the fact that between 2010 and 2016 the UP received the amount of $2.3 million in rent, when it had to receive $10.8 million.

In addition, says Urieta, the public procurement law was violated.

Carlos Carrillo, lawyer of García de Paredes, , presented an amparo of guarantees against the order of appeal to trial before the Supreme Court .

Urieta also called the former director of Administrative Services of the UP, Adrián Cuevas,to trial  and issued a provisional dismissal in favor of Vicente Archibold, José Pinzón, José Humberto Santos and María del Pilar Castañón, for lack of evidence.