Officials silent on Carnival scandal as criticism grows

Panama’s former comptroller has condemned lack of action by the current comptroller and the Attorney General over the scandal surrounding the payments allegedly made to a no-show carnival performer.

Alvin Weeden, on Thursday February 14, attacked the current Comptroller, Gioconda Torres de Bianchini, due to lack of action following recent scandals in the country, specifically for procurement of Puerto Rican artist Don Omar for the "carnival of the city".

"Senora comptroller is the ghost of a comptroller”, who, during her has taken no action in corruption cases. "You do not see her performance in the country, and her performance is not scrutinized when there is a scandal," he said, on TVN .
For Weeden, both the Comptroller and the Attorney General , Ana Belfon, should begin an investigation into the case of Don Omar. However, he said that these two figures are silent after the scandal, because there are conflicts of interest and "everything will be all right >
Meanwhile, the PRD's Balbina Herrera said there is a lack of transparency and an the organizing of the the capital’s carnival is improvisation. “It is a state of disorder” she said on TVN. Local artists should be well paid for their participation in these celebrations. "Even for carnivals the government creates problems,” she said.