News
Tuesday 10th December 2024.
December 9, 2024
A report from the Treasury of the Municipality of Panama , dated October 25, 2024, reveals that the municipality has a debt of $3.5 million to the Chapala Vocational Center for the production of license plates and vehicle circulation stickers.
According to the report, the Municipality of Panama, through former mayor José Luis Fábrega, signed contract No. 023-2023 with the Chapala Vacation Center for the supply of license plates and stickers for an amount of $11.8 million for a period of 3 years.
But as of last October, the document states, the Municipality of Panama had a debt amounting to $3.5 million.
The current deputy mayor of the capital, Roberto Ruiz Díaz , filed a criminal complaint for this case so that the Public Prosecutor’s Office can begin an investigation.
The complaint is for an alleged property damage. According to Ruiz Díaz, the amount collected in the form of road tax was not sent to Chapala.
“The municipality, without any justification, retained them and used them for other, unclear purposes,” said the deputy mayor.
According to the Treasury, the payment to the Vocational Center was not made effective from May 2023 to July 2024, the month in which Fábrega completed his term after not being re-elected to the position.
“It is not known where the money was directed or what it was used for, especially when the money did not belong to the municipality, but was money from individuals who paid for the production of stickers and license plates for the Chapala Vocational Center. This could lead to misappropriation by the previous mayoral administration, which must now be held accountable,” said Ruiz Díaz in his complaint.
Due to the lack of payment, the delivery of stickers and plates was delayed at the end of last year and the beginning of this year. Many drivers had to wait months to claim their corresponding month’s license.
Mayor Mayer Mizrachi , after taking office last July, made some financial maneuvers to cancel part of the debt. The process was regularized and the huge queues at the Center for Payment and Delivery of License Plates in the Francisco Arias Paredes Park gradually decreased.
Mizrachi even announced that the Municipality has already received the stickers for the month of February 2025. According to the mayor, they paid $1.2 million to the Vocational Center corresponding to the 2023 debt.
Attempts were made to obtain the former mayor Fábrega’s version of events, but his legal advisory team reported that he would not be making any comments for the time being.
At the ninth high-level meeting of the Board of Directors of the Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France, Panama demanded that the country be excluded from discriminatory lists.
The Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs and Cooperation, Carlos Guevara Mann, took advantage of his speech at the plenary session on “Regional Perspectives on Sustainable Development Financing” to point out the negative impacts of discriminatory measures based on erroneous data, which affect the attraction of investments and financial transactions in Panama.
“Discriminatory measures based on inaccurate information pose unfair obstacles to our development, especially in terms of attracting investment and conducting international financial transactions,” he stressed.
Guevara Mann recalled Panama’s progress in international transparency and urged the elimination of discriminatory lists, highlighting that these hinder the country’s sustainable development, despite international recognition of our recent efforts.
The deputy minister recalled that the Financial Action Task Force removed Panama from its list in 2023 and that the European Commission recommended the removal of our country from its list in March 2024. In October 2024, the French government, in turn, expressed its satisfaction with Panamanian cooperation in the area of information exchanges.
The European Union currently keeps Panama on its black list of tax havens, despite the European Commission’s recommendation to parliament to exclude it.
The country is also rated as partially cooperative in tax matters by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information.
With this non-compliant rating, Panama is on the European Union’s list of tax havens, which includes jurisdictions that fail to meet standards regarding fiscal transparency, tax justice or implementation of international standards to prevent the erosion of the tax base or the transfer of profits, and that do not take steps to resolve these problems.
Guevara Mann indicated that he made an urgent call to eliminate the discriminatory measures that weigh on Panama
Attorney General Javier Caraballo received recognition from the United States Department of State for his work in the fight against corruption and the promotion of justice.
The award was presented during an event held in Washington, in the framework of the International Day against Corruption . At this ceremony, Caraballo was recognized along with nine other world leaders for their efforts to strengthen transparency and accountability.
In a statement published on the website of the United States Embassy, Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted the importance of this recognition, stressing that “corruption erodes democratic governance, undermines trust in public institutions, and hinders economic development.”
Blinken stressed that the State Department promotes integrity, transparency, and accountability as fundamental pillars of its foreign policy and national security. He also recalled that since the adoption and ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) , the United States has led the implementation of international commitments in this area.
“We are honored to work alongside champions like these to defeat corruption. We will continue to work with partners to fulfill the vision of UNCAC,” Blinken said during the ceremony.
The Attorney General, for his part, stressed that he received this recognition “on behalf of all the prosecutors and investigators who fight crime and corruption in Panama.”
He also expressed his gratitude to the United States Embassy in Panama, which, through the Office of Drug Enforcement and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), submitted his application for this international recognition.
The National Police is offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to the identification and capture of those responsible for the murder of a security agent, which occurred on the night of December 8 in a mini-supermarket in the La Cristal sector, Arraiján district, Panama Oeste province.
The crime became known after a video was spread on social media showing the man being threatened by one of the suspects before being shot several times.
The recording shows several individuals walking around the place while the victim is lying on the floor. When they left the place and saw that they had been locked in, they attacked the security guard, shooting him several times.
Meanwhile, other assailants tried to open the lock, which had been allegedly closed by the owner of a nearby shop, with several shots. Unable to open it, the men managed to leave the establishment through a window.
So far, no one has been arrested, nor is there any information on the motive for the crime. The owner of the establishment issued a statement regretting the situation and asking for respect for the victim’s family.
On Monday afternoon, the Police carried out an operation in the sectors of La Cristal , Boyala , Huerto del Edén and Cuatro Torres in the district of Arraiján to find the murderers.
Panama is seeking to leave the yellow card and return to the green card, a step to ensure that the Panamanian fishing fleet continues to export to one of the main markets such as Europe.
This was announced by the Panama Aquatic Resources Authority (ARAP) after recently receiving a visit from the Minister for Canal Affairs and Secretary of Presidential Goals, José Ramón Icaza.
Icaza said that this “important activity” for the country, which represents jobs and income through exports, cannot be put at risk.
He added that together with the institution’s general manager, Eduardo Carrasquilla, they reviewed the actions they plan to carry out to obtain the green card.
Icaza also visited the ARAP Fisheries Monitoring Center, where satellite surveillance is carried out to combat illegal fishing. He said that this is an “impressive” platform, since it has good control of the Panamanian fleet, including the national-flagged fishing fleet that carries out this activity in international waters.
The yellow card is applied to countries by the European Union so that they make some adjustments recommended by the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DGMARE) of the European Commission, in order to combat illegal fishing in all its forms.
The National Aeronaval Service (Senan) rescued eight people in the early hours of the morning who were shipwrecked about three miles off Toro beach, Pedasí, Los Santos province.
According to the statement, the crew was aboard the Biki Wine vessel, which at around 3:05 am, had capsized due to strong waves in waters near Punta Mala.
According to one of the crew members of the boat, they had set sail from the port of Aguadulce, Coclé province, on the afternoon of Saturday, December 7 at 6:00 p.m.
It is known that the crew members were in the water for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes before being rescued. They were later transferred to the port of Mensabé, located in Santo Domingo de Las Tablas, Los Santos, where they received medical assistance.
Maritime authorities are also investigating the cause of the shipwreck, which was initially attributed to the difficult weather conditions in the Punta Mala area.