The odyssey  of tracking down convicted officials

Knowing which officials elected by vote hold public office despite having prison sentences for the commission of a criminal offense is a true odyssey reports La Prensa.

The lawyer Ernesto Cedeño embarked on the project after learning that members of the Municipal Council of Panama are holding office despite having convictions on their files. He has sent notes to the Ministry of Government, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Comptroller General, and the Attorney General asking them to provide him with information on the matter, but so far he has not received what he requests. He has even had to resort to the Administration Attorney’s Office, which monitors the conduct of officials.

The first request for information was addressed to the Comptroller, on December 5, 2022.

On January 5, the Comptroller’s Office responded that, in general terms, the entity has no way of verifying whether any official who holds a position by popular election has been criminally convicted with a final sentence.

On January 10, Cedeño sent the Minister of Government, Roger Tejada, a note in which he requested the d list. On February 3, Tejada responded that, in accordance with the legal powers established by law, which dictates the organizational regime of that ministry, he has no jurisdiction to issue criteria or give any type of response on the matter consulted.

Also in January, Cedeño submitted similar requests to the Supreme Court and to the Attorney General, Javier Caraballo, but did not receive a response either.

Finally, he presented the same petition to the Administration Attorney, Rigoberto González. But this time, the receiver did something different: on March 7, he asked Caraballo to get him the information. Cedeño was no longer alone; now González also wanted to know. But he had no luck either because Caraballo did respond, but to say that the Judicial Branch has the information

Caraballo sent a note to Cedeño on March 8, in which he apologized because the note was misplaced and ended up in the hands of a different office than the one asked to give responses.

He points out that the Public Ministry does not have information regarding the subject within the total State payroll, which is made up of 255,440 registered officials as of August 2022. He tells him that if he provides the names of the elected officials who he would like to verify, it could be searched in the reports of sentences notified to the offices or dependencies of the institution since the database with final sentences rests in the Judicial Branch.