OPINION: The abyss of despair

A year ago, the Office of the Comptroller of the Republic sent the Public Ministry a truck loaded with documents about another of the corruption scandals that hit the country: the case of the National Assembly payroll. It was about 174 volumes of audits referring to 14 thousand people and at least 113 million dollars of funds from all Panamanians that were managed negligently and in a corrupt way. The heart of the case is the way governments work: at the end of contracts and donations, the Executive cemented its governance alliance, and the deputies obtained unlimited funds for their campaigns and other purposes. In the bizarre world of Panamanian jurisprudence, it has been insisted that embezzlement should be proven with an audit by the Comptroller’s Office. In this case, audits abound, but justice, once again, turns its  back on the country. Thus, they fill with dust and cobwebs and the investigations of the forms progress slowly cash back , ghost contracts, and fictitious donations. As long as this corrupt way of managing public power persists, the future of this Republic will continue on the tightrope, between impunity anrd the abyss of despai –LA PRENSA, Aug. 23