Cortizo accepts bank chief’s resignation

President Cortizo has accepted the resignation of Andrés Farrugia as head of the state savings bank Caja de Ahorros, after journalistic investigations put his management under scrutiny.

“The answer is very simple: in my administration you have to work as a team, in a disciplined way, especially executing the investment budget, and in a transparent way. The manager’s decision is a very personal decision and I have accepted it ” said Cortizo  in response to questions about the resignation.

On Thursday, April 22, Farrugia announced that he was making his position as manager of the Savings Bank (CA) available. He held a press conference in which he reported that he would sue the La Prensa and explained that he had already proceeded against the digital site Foco and the photojournalist Mauricio Valenzuela.

Earlier that day, Foco published that Farrugia had bought a property on Ocean Reef Island, in Punta Pacifica, which cost $2.5 million, and that he previously lived in a duplex in the Betania district., Farrugia justified his assets and said that he has a real estate investment company, “which handles million dollar projects.”

The accusation against La Prensa would be linked to a publication on April 8, which revealed that the CA opened an account in the name of former President Ricardo Martinelli, in December 2020, by direct authorization from Farrugia, despite the warnings presented by officials of the compliance of the state bank, given that the client is a “PEP” (politically exposed person), due to the investigations on corruption and money laundering that are underway in Panama and their mention in other investigations for the same causes abroad.

Farrugia said that the bank did not skip governance or approval scales, and that it does not have the power to convict a person that the law “has not convicted.”