OPINION: The whitewashing of corruption in Panama

The comptroller, Gerardo Solís, in his report of “accountability” before the National Assembly has described Panama as a Nordic country, where corruption is an exceptional act and not every day. The institution’s control policy has changed to “correctness”, or whatever that means. He justified every scandal, including that of the Lottery, the modular hospital, the excessive expenses of mobilization of mayors, until the secret audit of Panama Ports Company. Well, to the list of scandals that he listed must add one more: that of his speech of justification of accounts, and not of accountability. He did not say a word about the audit of Pandeportes, in which a loss of more than $13 million to the State had been determined; he did not explain why the Comptroller’s Office stopped publishing the deputies’ lists; he did not say a word of the audit to the $8 million that was awarded to the National Assembly to pay his witch payroll. His “monologue”, in short, did not add anything that we do not know. And if the Comptroller’s Office was able to stop “goals” it was because of the alerts published by the media, those that it disparaged several times in its “justification report”, applauded by the government deputies. – LA PRENSA, Jan