Panama’s ANTAI Shut Down the Investigation of Sherina Latorraca Confirming her Resignation.

The case against Sherina Latorraca has been closed. The Transparency and Access to Information Authority (ANTAI) announced that it decided to close the case against Latorraca following her resignation as legal advisor to the Directorate of Public Procurement (DGCP).  ANTAI dismissed the case as moot, meaning the investigations will not continue. The agency confirmed, after conducting its inquiries, that Latorraca, daughter of Zaira Santamaría de Latorraca, the presiding magistrate of the Administrative Court of Public Procurement, had resigned.  “This decision is in accordance with the purpose of this figure, since it prevents maintaining an administrative action when the factual or legal assumptions that supported it have disappeared,” the institution explained.

Last Monday, Judge Santamaría de Latorraca above right, stated, during her presentation of the Court’s budget to the National Assembly’s Budget Committee, that she had consulted with the National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (ANTAI) and the Attorney General’s Office before her daughter accepted the position at the General Directorate of Public Procurement (DGCP). A day later, both entities confirmed they had not received any such consultation.  Sherina Latorraca arrived at the DGCP in April of this year to head the Legal Advisory department.  Independent congressman Jhonathan Vega questioned the hiring at the time and asserted that it could constitute a conflict of interest.

‘There was no conflict of interest,’ says Zaira Santamaría de Latorraca, the presiding magistrate of the Administrative Court of Public Procurement and the President of the Public Procurement Tribunal, regarding the appointment of her daughter Sherina.