OFF THE CUFF: University rector warned of criminal complaint

PANAMA UNIVERSITY Rector Gustavo García de Paredes, who has ruled the roost at The country’s leading center of learning since 1995, and plans to seek reelection, may finally have met his match.
Parades has run roughshod over opponents and engineered firings of long serving professors who have incurred his displeasure,has ignoredcourt orders, and been fined for contempt.. He even stage managed a  highway blocking protest of supportive “faculty members and students” that was largely composed of administrative staff under his control.
Meanwhile he has dominated a University Foundation he set up, and whose secretive activities have raised many questions leading to an attempt to audit the books, but the Comptroller’s auditing team has been constantly stonewalled.
On Monday, July 13, the Office of the Comptroller warned that it will file a criminal complaint against persons who impede or hinder the audit of the University of Panama (UP) Foundation.
In a note addressed to the Rector, Comptroller Federico Humbert said that officials of the university are refusing to provide information that is crucial to the audit.
“They are disregarding their duty to provide the cooperation required by our institution,” Humbert said.
He pointed out that the law requires people collecting a government salary to comply with requests of the comptroller. While the foundation was created as a private entity, it receives all of its funds from the university, which is a state agency.
Humbert said the staff of the university is “responsible for supplying the required documentation in a timely manner.”
Humbert requested García De Paredes “inform” his staff about the warning.