Seven People Arrested for Irregular Appointments in Meduca

The seven people arrested during Operation Capibara, led by the First Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime, will face charges for the alleged commission of money laundering and embezzlement crimes, related to irregular appointments in the Ministry of Education (Meduca).  Prosecutor Emeldo Márquez announced that most of those arrested are teachers; the others are Meduca officials.  The arrests were made in various provinces of the country, including Panama, Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro, Panama Oeste, Veraguas and Herrera, following complaints filed between 2023 and 2024.  These complaints point to alleged acts of corruption involving current and former Meduca officials, who allegedly took advantage of their positions to negotiate appointments. 

The investigation revealed two main modalities of this corruption network. The first group pretended to have contacts in the highest spheres of Meduca and offered transfers to different schools and colleges in the country, charging up to $2,500 for each transaction.  The second group, also made up of teachers, officials and former officials of Meduca, managed to include the candidates in the lists of candidates for appointments to positions in the public education system.  Emeldo Márquez, the prosecutor in charge, explained that the services were requested by teachers who did not achieve the necessary scores to be eligible in the competitions and who were willing to pay large sums of money to obtain an appointment or transfer.  In investigations carried out in the province of Chiriquí, it was discovered that a teacher involved in the network received more than $50,000, while in La Chorrera, West Panama, another group obtained profits of up to $70,000. 

During Operation Capibara, the prosecution carried out 23 raids in which electronic equipment containing key information on the operations of these criminal groups was found.  In addition, the funds in the bank accounts of those arrested are being traced, with which movable and immovable property was acquired, which has generated additional charges for money laundering.  The prosecutor stressed that most of those arrested are teachers, while the rest are Meduca officials. Authorities are continuing their investigations and gathering evidence in various areas of the country, seeking more evidence and possible links to this corruption network. This case adds to the previous complaint filed by Meduca regarding the collection of salaries of deceased teachers by third parties, which has generated a patrimonial loss of more than $165,000 per month. The administrative vice minister of Meduca, Roberto Sevillano, went to the Public Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday, October 3, 2024, to formalize 100 new cases of deceased persons who were still on the institution’s payroll.  So far, Meduca authorities have detected 126 cases of deceased persons who continued to collect their salaries as active officials.