Friday
Friday 4th October 2024.
October 3, 2024
The President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino , came out in defense of Grettel Villalaz de Allen and, in particular, of Luis Carlos Manuel Gómez Rudy , whom he proposed as Attorney General of the Nation and the Administration, respectively, starting in January 2025.
At his weekly press conference, the president said he had appointed two “honest” legal professionals with “experience in their field.” Gómez Rudy was his personal lawyer and until recently worked as an advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, where he earned a salary of $6,500.
In an annoyed, irritated and angry tone he said: “I am not going to name an enemy of mine, it is absurd. They are people who did not belong, especially the Attorney General, to the box office nor were they part of the parallel Attorney General’s Office.”
The reaction of the President of the Republic came on the same day that La Prensa published the news entitled From Palace advisor and President’s lawyer to Attorney General of the Nation.
This note relates, among other things, that Gómez Rudy defended Mulino when he was investigated for the alleged commission of the crime of embezzlement, due to irregularities in the purchase of 19 radars from the Italian company Selex , a subsidiary of the Finmeccanica conglomerate .
As part of that process, Mulino was arrested on October 28, 2015, but thanks to a ruling by Judge Angela Russo , his case was annulled on the grounds that the then anti-corruption prosecutor Zuleyka Moore had carried out investigations out of term, without having the corresponding judicial authorization. He was never declared guilty or innocent.
At the press conference on Thursday, Mulino blamed former President Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019) “and his puppet attorney,” Kenia Porcell , of plotting against him, along with “that newspaper that incriminated me and dragged my personal and professional honor every day, for many years, in relation to the story of the Italians.”
He also said about Varela that “he appointed his lawyer to set up a parallel attorney’s office and destroy lives and honor.
Mulino would be referring to Rogelio Saltarín , who died in December 2018, a jurist who advised the Ministry of the Presidency in the Varela government. Before that, he was a lawyer in the former president’s family businesses.
Mulino also welcomed the massive leak of Varela’s WhatsApp messages, in the so-called Varelaleaks . It is still unknown who was the author of this leak, carried out without judicial authorization.
“Thank God the Varelaleaks came out!” Mulino exclaimed on Thursday.
“There is the whole story of such vagrancy sponsored by that sick man named Juan Carlos Varela,” he added.
He announced that Gómez Rudy will “clean up” the Public Ministry, once he takes office in January 2025 (although he must first be ratified by the National Assembly) and “will fire whoever he needs to fire.” The president also said that he asked Gomez “not to call here.” He also recommended that he “not hesitate to do what he has to do.”
Gómez Rudy and Villalaz de Allen will replace Javier Caraballo and Rigoberto González , respectively, whose terms expire next December.
t of guarantees charged the lawyer Grisel Smith with the alleged commission of crimes against computer security and usurpation of public functions, to the detriment of the President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino .
According to the investigation, the lawyer posed as the president’s personal assistant and contacted businessmen, offering them to participate in government projects in exchange for large sums of money.
In a confidential hearing held this Thursday at the facilities of the First Judicial District of the Accusatory Penal System, in Plaza Ágora, the judge of guarantees, Christ Silva, accepted the charge and ordered Smith’s arrest. The judge argued that the crimes charged are “serious” and there is a risk of destruction of evidence and escape.
The Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes against Intellectual Property began the investigation on September 25, after the Ministry of the Presidency informed the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the facts.
During the hearing, prosecutors Gleysi Hernández and Daniel Vallejos presented evidence showing that Smith illegally accessed President Mulino’s cell phone contact book.
Smith, 39, a former official of the Judicial Branch and professor at two private universities, was arrested on October 1 by the Judicial Investigation Directorate (DIJ).
According to a statement from the National Police, the arrest took place in the town of Vacamonte, district of Arraiján, through a search warrant at a residence, where technological equipment such as cell phones, laptops, among others, were seized.
On August 17, President Mulino reported that his cell phone had been hacked and that security forces were investigating the incident.
” I want to alert the population that my cell phone was ‘hacked’ and my name is being falsely used on different chat platforms (Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram). State security is already investigating the crime ,” the president posted on social media X.
Dennis Allen and Heriberto Araúz , who were magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal (TE) until 2006 and 2022, respectively, have remained on the institution’s payroll as advisors.
Both have a salary of $4,750, according to information released by the National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (Antai), updated until August 2024.
According to the roster, Araúz joined the TE as an “Advisor II” by contract on February 1.
Allen also has a contract as “Advisor II,” since January 2.
Araúz, who was appointed in 2012 by the Supreme Court of Justice, left his post in November 2022, after holding the position for a decade. He was replaced by lawyer Luis Guerra
No tax reform that would entail an increase in taxes is planned for 2025, according to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Felipe Chapman, during a meeting with the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (Apede).
Chapman said the fiscal year 2025 budget will be presented first to the Cabinet Council and then to the National Assembly next week.
“Our plan is to go next week, if we are allowed, to present the draft budget for the nation for 2025,” confirmed the Minister of Economy.
He said that this year the fiscal deficit will indeed be higher than the 2% limit provided for in the Law on Fiscal Social Responsibility, and will reach over 4.5%.
“ The deficit of 4.5% of GDP will be reduced prudently. This year it will be higher than 4.5%, but the plan is to maintain two years of rigorous fiscal discipline, which will not be easy due to the opposition that may arise. Afterwards, the deficit will be reduced to manageable and sustainable levels, with a much lower debt,” he said about the management plan at the MEF.
On growth estimates, he said they point to the same trends as those published by the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral organizations, above 3% to 4% for 2025.
Minister Felipe Chapman said that Panama does not need shock measures, nor the chainsaw used by Javier Milei in Argentina.
He added that the budget goes hand in hand with the long-term reform of the Social Responsibility Law and other measures that will be communicated in due course.
“The government’s strategic plan will be presented to the cabinet, along with a five-year fiscal plan that seeks stability. Shock therapy is not required, nor extreme measures such as those proposed by Milei, but discipline and prudence are needed,” he added.
The Ministry of Education (Meduca) filed a criminal complaint for the alleged illegal collection of salaries corresponding to deceased teachers and administrative staff.
Meduca’s administrative vice-minister, Roberto Sevillano, went to the Public Prosecutor’s Office on the morning of Thursday, October 3, 2024, to formalize 100 new cases of deceased persons who were still on the institution’s payroll.
Sevillano explained that, so far, the financial losses to the educational institution are estimated at $165,000 per month.
With this new complaint, the total number of cases rises to 126 deceased people whose salaries were collected by third parties.
The national directors of Human Resources, Celia Rodríguez; and of Legal Advice, Nilka González; the legal advisor of the Superior Office, Jaime Castillo; who are carrying out the internal investigations, also attended the presentation of this complaint.
A total of 4,000 new job openings in both Panama City and the interior will be opened so that people can apply at job fairs in private companies.
“Mitradel and the private sector will be announcing around 4,000 new jobs at job fairs. Another 3,000 are being created, plus 1,000 in Panama and in the interior,” announced President José Raúl Mulino.
Earlier this week, Mitradel reported that several job openings were offered in Coclé by companies such as Alorica.
Spokespersons for the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development told La Prensa that the announcement of the job fairs where 4,000 vacancies will be offered will be released on Monday, October 7.
They announced that there are several fairs with Konzerta, as well as vacancies in Alorica, Nacion Sushi and Nestlé that have been offered in alliance with Mitradel, to which other companies will be added that will be revealed next Monday.
From that day until October 13, the Konzerta job search platform will hold a job fair until October 13, where people can update their resumes and apply for jobs.
They indicated that in the previous edition of Expo Konzerta, in March of this year, more than 85,000 people applied for job offers on the platform. “More than 50% of the participants were young people between 18 and 34 years of age looking for a job opportunity,” said this job search platform in a statement.