In this sense, the former Minister of Economy and Finance Frank De Lima stated that it is the duty of the comptroller, by constitutional mandate, to monitor the use of public funds and all the public money, among them, that which is assigned to the National Assembly for supposedly supporting poor people.Īt the same time, lawyer Ernesto Cedeño said: "If you think that, with the version by the comptroller that he does not have to investigate them, and that it has to be the Public Ministry, he is undermining the strength because audits should be carried out by the comptroller". Moreover, Humbert said to ignore whether he has the competent authority to investigate the management of legislators and said that the Public Prosecutor's Office should be the one that should request an audit at the National Assembly, and for this purpose he has sent notes to the Court and to the Office of the Administration.
"Since he took office, he has done nothing, but now, sinnce he wishes to parttake in the dance of the millions with his legislator friends, he pretends to go unnoticed and fail to do what he must do therefore he should resign", said Bernal.
In its article 55, law 32 sets forth "among the functions of the Comptroller is to order investigations to determine whether the management of funds and other public property has been made correctly and in accordance with the established rules".Įven the political Constitution of Panama is clear in stating in its article 280, relating to the functions of the Comptroller's Office, which is the comptroller who should "maintain all national accounts". The response of the comptroller is attributed to his intentions to get along well with legislators and not go ahead and investigate the possible corruption acts in donations, denounced lawyer Miguel Antonio Bernal.īernal said that "the Comptroller is not doing anything but evade responsibilities and compliance with law 32 governing the Comptroller´s Office because he is not able to fulfil the responsibilities that correspond to this kind of situations". "If the Court rules that it is illegal, I would prepare another handbook the next day", threatened Humbert. Humbert has insisted to benefit legislators, pointing out that he would be willing to design a new handbook for regular donations of the Assembly, should the Supreme Court declare the unconstitutionality of the handbook prepared by his office. On Tuesday, units of the Gaming Board went to headquarters of CIRSA Panama, the biggest operator of slot machines in the country to seize documents that identify it shareholders, but the employees refuse to give the information alleging that the information was at the bank.Ī spokesman for President Ricardo Martinelli said that the head of state has not yet ordered, as reported, the cancellation of the concessions to operate the slot machines and the matter was on the hands of the Public Ministry.Įrnesto Perez Balladares was president from 1994 to 1999 and he privatized the telephone and electricity companies, the casinos and the Balboa and Cristobal ports.Īll the concessions are surrounded by rumors of corruption and allegations that bribes were paid by the companies that won the concessions and were not involved in a bidding process.As part of his electoral aspirations, the Comptroller General of the Republic, Federico Humbert, seeks to take political advantage with the regulation of donations from the National Assembly, despite the warnings of unconstitutionality, denounced some critics. The newspaper said that the Gaming Board secretary, Giselle Brea has ordered Monday an audit in the three companies to find out the names of their shareholders.
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