News
Thursday 21st November 2024.
November 20, 2024
The First Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases validated this Wednesday, November 20, a 48-month prison sentence agreement for Silvana Manzini de De Obarrio for the crimes of unjustified enrichment and money laundering.
Judge Águeda Rentería, who presided over the hearing that began at 2:00 pm, approved the agreement reached between the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Descarga and the defense of the accused. During the session, the judge confirmed with Silvana Manzini de De Obarrio that the agreement was signed voluntarily and without pressure.
The sentence imposed is divided into two sanctions of 24 months each: the first for unjustified enrichment and the second for money laundering, in both as a primary accomplice.
Following the validation of the agreement, Eduardo Sequeira , defense attorney, requested the commutation of the sentence for the payment of days-fine. However, the judge explained that this request must be addressed to a compliance judge.
The investigation against Manzini de De Obarrio and his son, Adolfo De Obarrio, for money laundering has as a preceding crime unjustified enrichment. This process began after an audit by the Comptroller General of the Republic revealed that De Obarrio could not justify $3 million in his assets.
As part of this investigation, the prosecution ordered the seizure of two properties belonging to De Obarrio located in Punta Barco and San Carlos, in West Panama, as well as two other properties in the district of San Francisco.
Adolfo De Obarrio, currently residing in Italy, did not appear in this process or in the one related to the purchase of dehydrated food, for $44.5 million, managed through the defunct National Aid Program during the government of Ricardo Martinelli (2014-2019).
De Obarrio also faces a 120-month prison sentence for the Blue Apple case , in which he was also ordered to pay $5,091,486.92 to the National Treasury, an amount that must be paid within 24 months after serving his main sentence.
What could be interpreted as the expropriation of the savings of contributors to the mixed pension system has once again surfaced in the public debate, this time in the consultations on the reforms to the Social Security Fund (CSS).
For CSS authorities, the reform does not propose in any of its articles the expropriation of money, but rather the use of a common account, guaranteeing that each person has a complete report of their individual contribution registered in the books.
The government of José Raúl Mulino proposes the extinction of the mixed pension system to form what they have called the “single solidarity fund.”
All the reserves of the pension system would go to this single fund: the very few that remain from the exclusively defined benefit subsystem and the more than $3 billion from the mixed system.
On Wednesday, November 20, attorney Daniel Lombana participated in the consultation period during the first debate of the bill in the National Assembly.
There, Lombana recalled the warnings made in the recent past by various voices in the private sector, which pointed out that the merger of the two systems could be interpreted and demanded as an expropriation of the contributors’ funds, given that the mixed system includes a personal savings component that belongs to each worker.
In his opinion, this is what would be achieved by creating a single fund, from which funds would be taken to pay the pensions of all current pensioners, while trying to create reserves under the promise of investment with 4% interest and the contribution of the State.
Lombana recalled that Article 209 of Law 51 of 2005 establishes that the funds in individual savings accounts are the exclusive property of the insured. “I repeat: they are their property. However, now they are trying to redirect that money to a solidarity system without prior consultation,” he emphasized.
In his opinion, this decision particularly affects a generation of workers who have gone through multiple pension models: from a solidarity system in 2004, to a mixed one in 2005, and now towards a collective capitalization scheme.
José María Castillo , one of the four lawyers for the former official of the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR), Odila Castillo (with whom he is not related, despite having the same last name), was interviewed this Tuesday, November 19, on the television program Cuarto Poder , which is broadcast on RPC TV in the morning hours.
In the interview, Castillo stated that when his client processed modifications in favor of her clients’ contracts, she never did so while working at the aforementioned Comptroller’s Office, a statement that is false.
Odila Castillo, who is also a lawyer, worked as an external official of the Comptroller’s Office, as she herself made clear in a reply she sent to this media outlet in April 2021. In addition, there are public records that show that she was an official of the Comptroller’s Office when she made arrangements, for example, in favor of the company Administration and Supervision of Civil Works , on March 22, 2021.
A letter from the firm Palacios Vásquez & Asociados , in which Odila Castillo was a partner, president and legal representative since 2018 (along with the general secretary of the Comptroller’s Office, Zenia Vásquez , who had previously requested a license from the firm), described the amount of her firm’s fees to Administration and Supervision of Civil Works. That letter detailed the amount that the client had to pay in professional fees for the processing of 17 contract “settlements” (it referred to the official termination of contracts executed by that company for the State).
The firm detailed its fees, which consisted of a percentage of the contracts: “10% of the total amount obtained at the time of legal completion of the settlements through endorsement.
According to the letter, Palacios Vásquez & Asociados was committed to “processing, managing and completing the claims with the endorsement of the Comptroller General of the Republic…”. In other words, the former Comptroller General’s official’s signature was committed to processing the claims until obtaining, precisely, the endorsement of the Comptroller General.
The firm was so confident of obtaining these endorsements that its clients had to make a “partial payment” of the amount they would receive for the proposed liquidation solution, once endorsed by the entity responsible for the works, as well as an additional percentage to pay the fees, after obtaining the endorsement of the Comptroller’s Office. This letter from Palacios Vásquez & Asociados, as already mentioned, is dated March 22, 2021, when Odila Castillo had a contract with the Comptroller’s Office for $3,000 per month. According to records from the Comptroller’s Office itself, there was a “payment for special services from March 1 to 30, 2021,” that is, the same month in which her law firm sent the letter of professional fees to its client.
During the inauguration of the new halls of the Executive Center of the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE) Business School, President José Raúl Mulino stated that the educational gaps that affect the country’s competitiveness in key sectors such as technology and logistics must be closed.
“We cannot stay behind. Education must go hand in hand with the country’s employment needs,” he said.
The president took the opportunity to emphasize the importance of a national logistics strategy that maximizes Panama’s geographic position.
“Our location must be much more than the Canal. We need a strategy that consolidates our maritime and logistical strengths to attract investments and develop new markets,” he said.
He also revealed that he is in talks with international businessmen interested in establishing operations in the country, in areas such as sulfur processing and agricultural exports, thus strengthening the country’s economic potential.
For his part, Enrique Bolaños, rector of Incae, stressed the importance of the country as a strategic headquarters for the institution. “Panama is not only a key market in Latin America, but a true hub of the Americas,” he said.
He also highlighted the institution’s recent achievements, such as the inclusion of its Executive MBA among the 100 best programs in the world according to the Financial Times and the recognition by LinkedIn as one of the best schools to boost professional careers.
The President and CEO of Liberty Latin America, Balan Nair, also highlighted the importance of this new facility not only for the institution, but also for the development of the country and the entire region.
“Today we celebrate more than just a building; we celebrate a significant step forward for Panama,” said Nair, who emphasized that a country that aspires to be world-class must have access to world-class education, especially at higher levels.
For his part, Stanley Motta , who is part of the Advisory Board of Incae, highlighted the long road traveled to materialize the presence of the institution in Panama.
“I first heard about this initiative in the 1970s, but at that time it was decided to establish itself in Costa Rica. Having this center here today not only benefits the institution, but also positions Panama as a hub for education and business leadership,” he said.
The center arrived in Panama after its campus in Nicaragua was confiscated by the government of Daniel Ortega in 2023. This fact forced the institution to look for new expansion opportunities, to continue its educational mission.
Attorney General Javier Caraballo confirmed that his office is conducting at least three investigations related to the circulation of counterfeit coins, known as “martinellis,” in the local market.
Caraballo explained that the first complaint about the counterfeiting of these coins was filed approximately a year and a half ago, and that there are two other ongoing investigations on the same subject.
The most recent of these investigations began last October, when a batch of counterfeit coins was discovered in a warehouse in Chilibre.
Subsequently, the National Customs Authority located a second batch of coins in the same warehouse, which is presumed to be linked to a previous batch that had been introduced into the country through the Colon Free Zone.
On November 13, Panamanian authorities discovered a shipment of rice from China, labeled with the brand of a well-known national product, inside a container held in a Pacific port
This shipment is currently under custody at the Customs headquarters, located on Domingo Díaz Avenue. The case, classified as trademark fraud, involves the unauthorized use of a registered trademark.
Customs reported that, after concluding the corresponding administrative process, the file will be sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) for a criminal investigation.
It was reported that, once the case is passed to the MP, this institution will be in charge of requesting the intervention of authorized experts, whether from the Consumer Protection and Competition Authority, the Ministry of Health or any other entity that is considered pertinent. These experts must certify whether the product is suitable for human consumption or address any other aspect that is deemed necessary.
The company Grupo Hermanos Palacios (Hepsa), owner of the Panamanian brand Pelin that was counterfeited, filed a formal complaint with the authorities. In a statement, they described the incident as “smuggling practices in violation of our industrial property rights.”
For its part, the National Association of Poultry Farmers of Panama (Anavip) urged both the ANA and the MP to conduct a prompt and exhaustive investigation. “We hope that, once these events are clarified and responsibilities established, the guilty parties will be administratively and criminally sanctioned, with the rigor that these serious violations merit,” the organization said.