Former Mayor of Colón, Dámaso García Gets 5 Years in Prison

It has been a rough time for the Mayors and former Mayors of Colón when it comes to embezzlement.  The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice rejected a clarification presented by the defense of the former mayor of Colón, Dámaso García, sentenced to five years in prison for the crime of embezzlement to the detriment of the Municipality of Colón.  Under the presentation of Judge María Eugenia López and the endorsement of her colleagues Ariadne García and Maribel Cornejo, the Criminal Chamber rejected the clarification filed by Juan Carlos Galesio, García’s lawyer.  Previously, the Criminal Chamber did not admit an appeal filed against the ruling of August 10, 2023 issued by the Superior Court for the Settlement of Criminal Cases, which confirmed a decision of the First Court for Settlement of Criminal Cases that sentenced García to five years in prison. 

The decision of the Criminal Chamber was announced through edict No.88 posted on the morning of this Friday, May 17, in the Secretariat of the Criminal Chamber of the Court.  Once the ruling of the Criminal Chamber is enforceable, the sentence will be sent to the court of first instance, so that it can notify the Judicial Investigation Directorate (DIJ) of the location of the accused so that he can be sent to a penitentiary center to serve the sentence imposed. The conviction against García occurred after an investigation carried out by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, in which a financial injury to the State of $59 thousand was determined through the irregular hiring of personnel.  According to the investigations, this occurred through the hiring of a group of people who were paid their fees, but who did not show up for their jobs. That is, they were what are ordinarily called in Panama “bottles” which makes no sense in English.  The irregularities were detected by the prosecutor’s office between the years 2009-2014, when García served as mayor of the Colón district.