Lottery Scandal: Jobs for Party Hacks

At least three of the four officials of the National Lottery charged with embezzlement were hired by the director-general Gloriela Del Río, in mid- 2019, when the alliance between the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement (Molirena) came to power.

They are Alejandra Bonilla González, former provincial director of Panama; Franklin De Gracia Domínguez, former head of Operations, and Yamilka Camarena Díaz, former head of deliveries. In the midst of the scandal, in May 2021, after complaints of irregularities in the Lottery, they were moved to other functions and, finally fired after their arrest last week. In the most recent Camarena and Bonilla are provisionally detained in the case. Gracia and was ordered precautionary measures with periodic notification.

The three arrived at the institution between July and October 2019, at the beginning of Laurentino Cortizo’s administration, reports La Prensa Like them, more than 240 people of the 1,713 employed by the Lottery had entered between those months of 2019.

The choice of the Lottery’s top leadership had been sealed more in 2018 when Francisco Pancho Alemán was re-elected as president of the Molirena party. That day, all the positions of the party leadership were also chosen

In the Electoral Bulletin published in 2018, the proclaimed candidates are listed. At least 10 of the people elected, including the party’s prosecutor, Gloriela Del Río, would end up in directive positions of the State institution called upon to finance programs and projects of social development and charity, through the monopoly of the lottery. Two of them, De Gracia and Camarena, are now the visible faces of the corruption scandal

In the Electoral Bulletin, Gloriela Del Río is proclaimed the honorary prosecutor of Molirena. as a result of the investigations involving officials and members of said group, the Molirena issued a statement in which it assures that of those involved, “none are conventional, nor do they belong to any management or authority body within the party.”

Until now, Del Río has not explained what happened. The LNB sent a statement on November 17, stating that the Lottery is a plaintiff and has been diligently helping with the investigations, “in order to clarify the facts and punish those who are responsible for anything illicit ”.

At the hearing to accuse De Gracia, Camarena, and Bonilla,  the prosecutors said the case arose from an anonymous complaint.

According to the list of proclaimed candidates, other people also elected in 2018 appear in important positions in the LNB. Yheimy de Fernández, who was elected to the party’s national board, serves as deputy director of the LNB. Similarly, the current undersecretary of the institution, Javier Ábrego, was elected general secretary of the youth of the party. Maribel de Gómez, the party’s training secretary, holds a position as an administrator in the LNB.

Other LNB officials who were elected to different internal positions in 2018 are Abel Fiol, who serves in the IT department; Aurelia Urriola, who works at the El Dorado agency, and Mayra De Gracia; Los Santos provincial director.