The Public Ministry and the Comptroller General of the Republic of Panama simultaneously advance multiple judicial files, preventive detention orders and precautionary seizures of assets against former members of the Executive Cabinet and directors of entities from the government period of Laurentino Cortizo.
These measures arise after detecting possible unsupported assets and the irregular management of State funds during the five-year period between 2019 and 2024.
In the legal field, investigations focus on the unjustified enrichment which occurs when the fortune of a public servant increases without legal financial support, the embezzlement which covers the use or misappropriation of state money and the precautionary seizure of assets that immobilizes bank accounts and properties to prevent their transfer while the courts resolve criminal responsibilities.
Regarding this last measure, it is estimated that the amount of asset seizures are around $50 millionaccording to the comptroller Anel Flores.
The list of the main former authorities investigated and their current legal status is consolidated in the following cases:
– José Gabriel Carrizo (Former vice president and former minister of the Presidency): He faces a measure of house arrest and the precautionary freezing of $1.3 million in assets while the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office formalizes a criminal accusation for unjustified assets of $1.9 million.
– Rafael Sabonge (Former Minister of Public Works): Registers formal complaints with the Public Ministry aimed at clarifying alleged budget modifications and operational decisions in the construction of the Fourth Bridge over the Canal.
– Nadia Del Río (Former institutional executive director of the Ministry of the Presidency): Member of the close circle of the Executive, subject to investigation for alleged illicit enrichment and with an asset seizure for $576,000 issued by the Court of Accounts.
– Bernardo Meneses (Former director of the Institute for the Training and Use of Human Resources | Ifarhu): He remains under provisional detention in the La Nueva Joya penitentiary center on charges of aggravated embezzlement and corruption linked to the discretionary distribution of student financial aid for an amount greater than $51 million.
– Héctor Brands (Former director of the Panamanian Sports Institute | Pandeportes and former deputy): He maintains open files in the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the Comptroller’s Office for alleged irregularities in sports infrastructure contracts and for the involvement of his environment in the discretionary allocation of financial aid from the IFARHU, currently being in the forensic audit stage and collection of evidentiary elements.
– Luis Oliva (Former Director of the Government Innovation Authority | AIG): He maintains a preventive detention measure while the Public Ministry investigates an unsupported asset differential of $937 thousand along with possible anomalies in hiring in the technology sector.
– Publio De Gracia (Former director of the General Directorate of Revenue | DGI): It maintains the administrative immobilization of assets for $16 million dictated by the Comptroller General of the Republic as a result of audits of its budgetary and asset management.
– Noriel Araúz (Former administrator of the Panama Maritime Authority | AMP): He remains subject to precautionary withholding orders of assets for $1.3 million issued by financial control authorities following reviews of his administration accounts.
– Edward Mosley Ibarra (Former Director of the National Decentralization Authority): He faces investigations by the Prosecutor’s Office and control agencies for the allocation and discretionary transfer of more than $213 million from the Social Interest Development Program (PDIS) to community boards during the electoral period.
– Gloriela Del Río (Former Director of the National Charity Lottery): It registers open files in the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office for alleged embezzlement related to irregularities in the collection of ordinary and extraordinary draws, return of tickets and assignment of passbooks.
The scope of these investigations also includes more than a hundred former local authorities throughout the country for the management of public funds, so the progress of these files will continue to be defined in the different hearings scheduled before the guarantee courts and the Court of Accounts.
