The Alleged 21 Million Dollar Tax Fraud in Panama Finds a Fifth Person Arrested.
They are being investigated for the alleged commission of the crimes of organized crime, corruption of public officials, forgery and money laundering.
Renaul Delgado Barrios, who was listed in one of the wanted notices of the National Police, was provisionally detained while he is investigated for a case of alleged fraud of $21 million against the General Directorate of Revenue (DGI). This is the fifth person charged by a judge of guarantees as a result of Operation Mirage, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office (PGN) published this Saturday, September 18. At the multiple requests hearing, in which the judge legalized his arrest, the Second Superior Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime supported charges for the alleged commission of the crimes of organized crime, corruption of public servants, forgery and money laundering.
Five people are under investigation as part of Operation Mirage.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, the scheme worked as follows: money was allegedly given to public servants of the DGI, through bank accounts and other forms of payment, so that they would alter the tax platform and give access to fictitious tax credits. The investigation began in 2024. The Attorney General’s Office does not specify in its press release what role Delgado Barrios played in the network, nor when or where he was apprehended.
The Connection with the CRU of San Miguelito.
Delgado Barrios pictured above is listed as the operations manager of the HCG SA consortium, the company that is building the San Miguelito Regional University Center (CRU).
The project, awarded by the University of Panama (UP) in 2019, was contracted for $65.9 million, but its cost is already approaching $88.3 million. Luis Alberto Gaitán Mendoza, president and legal representative of the HCG consortium, is also under investigation in this case, along with Efraín Chérigo Moreno, accountant and Gaitán’s business partner, and Dídimo Rodríguez Ayala. All of them were also wanted by the police. There is another person involved, but their name has not been released. Delgado Barrios is also the president of Concag SA, a company that, according to records from Panamá Emprende, is located in La Chorrera and is dedicated to general construction and civil works.
The new San Miguelito Regional University Center (CRU), located at the entrance to Chivo Chivo in the community of Las Cumbrecitas, Las Cumbres district, in northern Panama.
The UP Defends the Work.
The rector of the University of Panama, Eduardo Flores, said that the crimes attributed to the president of the HCG consortium are not related to the CRU. “I don’t believe that, since Mr. Gaitán’s company isn’t contributing any money to the construction of the Center. On the contrary, we have to pay him based on the progress of the work and its verification,” Flores explained. The UP even released a statement asserting that an audit conducted by the Comptroller’s Office on the contract last year did not identify “weaknesses”, “irregularities” or “failures” related to its management, execution and supervision.
The Connection with Raúl Pineda.
In 2025, the HCG consortium was under scrutiny by the Public Prosecutor’s Office due to reports of alleged suspicious bank transactions indicating that Congressman Raúl Pineda pictured above, his son Abraham Rico Pineda, and two other individuals arrested as part of the Jericó anti-narcotics operation had received funds from the CRU contractor. Delgado even participated in a tour of the construction site in 2022 by the Assembly’s Budget Committee. Among the representatives who toured the site was Pineda, then vice president of the committee. Espejismo is progressing in parallel to Operation Pandora, the largest investigation into fraud against the DGI, in which economic damage of at least $40 million was estimated.
