Alleged Embezzlement at Barrio Sur Community Board. Former Comptroller’s Office Inspector Arrested.

A former auditor from the Comptroller General’s Office became the third person arrested in an investigation for embezzlement against the Barrio Sur Community Board, a case for which the former mayor of Colón, Alex Lee, was already arrested.  The former prosecutor, whose name has not yet been released, was apprehended during a raid carried out by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Police in the township of Cristóbal.  The Public Prosecutor’s investigation revealed that the former official was allegedly involved in a case of embezzlement that caused economic damage amounting to $565,473.

The Origin.

Before becoming mayor, Alex Lee, served as treasurer and representative, in that order, of the Barrio Sur community board. He held the treasurer position when Marta Macías pictured below, was the representative. 

Lee and Macías are being investigated for irregularities in the handling of funds allocated by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) for social works in the province of Colón.  The file shows that checks were issued to people outside the Barrio Sur Community Board, without any legal basis or justification. Alex Lee is pictured below being arrested.

The prosecution has been unable to locate the documentation supporting the disbursements made. The defendants have stated that this documentation was lost in a flood at their offices.  Lee is currently being held in a prison run by the National Aeronaval Service (Senan) on Coiba Island pictured below.

In the coming weeks, he is scheduled to be transferred to a hearing regarding the violation of his rights due to his continued detention in this island prison, which houses high-risk convicts.  Lee is there, despite the fact that his detention is provincial and he does not have a final conviction although his name is linked to several ongoing criminal proceedings.