Friday
Friday 26th July 2024.
July 25, 2024
The President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, announced this Thursday that he ordered Saquina Jaramillo, the new director of the National Lottery of Charity (LNB), to end the electronic lottery of Panama, known as Lotto and Pega 3, which are usually played on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
The president reaffirmed that Scientific Games LLC. is the company behind the 10-year concession of digital lotteries.
“As for the electronic lottery, I have asked the director to begin taking measures so that our National Charity Lottery focuses on the traditional draws of Miércolito, Dominguito and the Gordito del Zodiaco,” said Mulino.
“The rest is over, which only reduces the efficiency of our lottery, benefiting some who profit from the issue of electronic lotteries, which this year generated a weekly gross sales of 900 thousand dollars,” he added.
Mulino explained that the LNB reported a 27% refund this month, six percentage points less than last month, and described it as a high figure. He recalled that there are 13,500 banknote sellers in the country, who generate commissions on 10% of their sales.
“The ticket sellers’ commission is 12.5%, a little more than that of the National Lottery of Charity, which amounts to 117 thousand dollars, and the operator also earns 2% of gross sales,” said the president.
“This is not a business for the State. It is a business for someone, but not for the State. So this institution will undergo an efficient, transparent and honest transformation, with the aim of making it a credible and beneficial entity for the Panamanian people again,” said Mulino.
Asked by this newspaper about the beneficiaries of the electronic lottery, Mulino limited himself to mentioning the company Scientific Games, without detailing the names of people.
“But the problem is not so much the final beneficiaries, but the cost in terms of lost income and benefits for the National Lottery of Charity, which is ours, the Panamanian people’s. That is where the action is directed and I hope to soon close the gaps that affect the profitability of our lottery. I am working on this,” he concluded.
The electronic lottery in Panama has been the subject of several lawsuits before the Supreme Court of Justice. One of them was filed by former presidential candidate Ricardo Lombana.
In October 2023, Lombana filed a nullity suit against the contract signed by the National Lottery of Charity (LNB) for the implementation of the electronic lottery before the Third Chamber of Administrative and Labor Litigation of the Supreme Court of Justice. His intention was the provisional suspension of new games of chance.
Business owners, workers, retirees and deputies are warning of the serious complications and damage experienced by the Social Security Fund (CSS) computer systems , whether for the issuance of tokens, the application of discounts to workers or the affiliation of new employees.
This would be a delicate situation, considering that it is the entity that administers public pensions, offers medical services to workers throughout the country and manages a budget of $7 billion.
“Businessmen cannot enter new employees of companies. Apart from that, payrolls cannot be generated. Another thing that affects the system of granting appointments and the issuance of medicines to users.” This was the warning made in the plenary session of the National Assembly on the morning of Thursday, July 25, by Ariel Ortega, deputy substitute for Lilia Batista, of the Realizing Goals (RM) party.
Workers who have contacted this newspaper warn that they have not received their card since March 7. As is known, these cards are what validate that members have paid their dues to receive medical services from the CSS.
“So far we have not had any problems because the cards are valid for three months. But we do not know what will happen if this is not resolved in time,” they told La Prensa .
In an internal CSS memo dated July 16, the problems they have been facing are noted.
Carlos Rodríguez, director of Innovation and Transformation, wrote to Enrique Lau, director of the entity, to explain the situation of the Mainframe system .
It turns out that on July 3, a mass email was sent to all CSS employees, announcing what they call a “maintenance window.” But it turned out that from that moment, until at least July 16, the system had not been able to be restored due to technical reasons, including: physical damage to the power sources, damage to five hard drives and to the computer controller.
Rodríguez explained that the hard drives were replaced and the data reconstruction process was successful, also having a backup of information as of June 28, 2024.
However, they had no spare part for the disk controller card.
The replacement part is supposed to arrive within 48 to 72 hours. That means that the problem should have been resolved by July 19 at the latest.
In that note, Rodriguez suggested to Lau that administrative measures be taken, in order not to suspend service to users. But collateral damage has been inevitable.
The CSS administration issued a communication on Wednesday, July 24, in which it informed all employers that “due to the inconveniences that are occurring at the institutional level with the platform of the Economic Income and Benefits System (SIPE), it has been decided to extend the validity date of the digital certificates, corresponding to the quota month of April 2024, until July 31.”
Technological alarms have been ringing for years. In fact, the situation became critical last April, when the CSS experienced a failure in one of its technological systems, highlighting the risk of losing vital financial information in income, collection or benefit payment records. The reason: the obsolescence of IBM Mainframe storage equipment.
President José Raúl Mulino said that the future of the Social Security Fund (CSS) is a “priority issue” in his administration, and that he will meet with leaders of political parties with the aim of starting a dialogue.
“Starting next week, I will start formal meetings with the heads of political parties,” the president said on Thursday.
For the moment, he has not decided whether he will do it individually or in a group. Later he will call on business organizations, unions, educators, among others. “We are all owners of Social Security and everyone has to contribute and give their opinion, to delve into the solution to Social Security as a whole,” he added.
In his opinion, there are various proposals that could lead the institution to take a different direction from what it currently has, “without this meaning the privatization of pension funds.”
He reiterated that for now, what he wants to raise on this issue at the level of political party presidents “is to demonstrate once again my willingness to engage in dialogue.”
Likewise, while these meetings are taking place, he will wait for the new members of the CSS board of directors to be elected, as well as the new director who will replace Enrique Lau Cortés , in September.
Agents of the National Police and personnel from the Public Ministry arrested a man on Thursday for allegedly being linked to a multi-million dollar scam, to the detriment of several cattle ranchers in the province of Darién.
During the investigation, related to the alleged commission of a crime against economic assets in the form of fraud, documents related to the investigation, checks and copies of transaction notices were located.
According to a police statement, in 2023 this man, along with two other people, allegedly carried out fraud with bad checks, affecting 17 cattle ranchers in the province of Darien, whose economic loss amounted to 1 million 138 thousand 422 dollars with 15 cents.
The police also explained that the modus operandi consisted of a representative of the arrested man’s company choosing the cattle for shipment in the sectors of Río Iglesia, Metetí, Santa Fe and Agua Fría. After the cattle were shipped by the owners, they were transported to the slaughterhouses, without suspecting that the checks did not contain funds.
It was added that the detainee was placed at the orders of the competent authorities, while the search for the other two people related to the investigations continues.
After several consecutive increases in recent weeks, gasoline prices will drop starting this Friday, July 26.
The National Energy Secretariat reported that 95-octane gasoline will drop two cents per liter and will be sold at $1.03. Meanwhile, 91-octane gasoline will also drop two cents and will be sold at 95 cents per liter.
Low-sulfur diesel will see a three-cent drop per liter, and will be sold to the public at 88 cents.
These prices will be valid until August 9, 2024.