News
Tuesday 16th July 2024.
July 15, 2024
The outgoing general manager of the Colon Free Zone (ZLC), Giovanni Ferrari Francucci , granted the concession of two tracts of land adjacent to the Enrique Jimenez airport , in the Coco Solo sector , in favor of a company in which his children are direct beneficiaries.
The concessionaire is called ONX, SA , which also has links to a permit to commercially exploit the Colón airport.
Concesionaria ONX is a company registered on April 19 (16 days before the elections in which the then ruling PRD lost the Presidency of the Republic) and has Alexis Williams Arosemena as president and legal representative and Juan Carlos Williams Ramírez as secretary .
In a notarized letter dated May 30, Juan Carlos Williams declared under oath that the “owners” of 100% of the shares of Concesionaria ONX are the companies Corporación ONX, SA , Sky Cana SRL and Carga Transístmica, SA .
It is not specified what each company’s share is or whether the shares are divided equally.
In that same notarized document, Juan Carlos Williams specified who the “final beneficiaries” of Carga Transístmica were: Marco Alessandro, Bruno, Giovanni and Melania Ferrari Maruri , all children of the ZLC manager, Giovanni Ferrari.
The Public Registry states that the subscribers of Carga Transístmica are Giovanni Ferrari Francucci and his mother Adriana Francucci de Ferrari. Marco and Bruno Ferrari Maruri are the president and treasurer, respectively.
The names of Alexis Williams Arosemena and Frank Díaz González appear listed as beneficiaries of ONX Corporation and Sky Cana .
The two plots of land delivered to Concesionaria ONX (identified as lot number 1575) have an area of 1,073,965 square meters and were rented for 20 years, renewable, starting last June 1. In exchange, the ZLC would charge a monthly lease of $0.005, but the rent will begin to apply two years after the start of commercial exploitation of the Colón airport, as detailed by the Presidency of the Republic last Friday, when it called a press conference to inform the country about the existence of what it has described as a “ land deal in Colón .”
That day, it was announced that an investigation had been ordered “for alleged irregularities and conflict of interest in the previous government” and that both concessions (the ZLC and the Enrique Jiménez airport) had been suspended. It was then said that the directors or final beneficiaries of the concessionaire company “could” be linked “to the authorities who administered the ZLC in the previous government,” but no names were provided.
Raffoul Arab , former general manager of Tocumen International Airport, SA (Aitsa) , stressed that the lands granted to ONX are not part of Aitsa’s assets (but of the ZLC) and that the contract for the commercial exploitation of the Colon terminal has not yet been drawn up, since relevant details of the company that won the public tender are being “verified.”
He added that he informed José Ruiz , the manager of Aitsa appointed by President José Raúl Mulino , about this tender , and who will be responsible for “making the final decisions.”
The Panama City Hall has asked its officials to collect their salaries by handing over checks, instead of making electronic transfers.
The measure, applied on the morning of Monday, July 15, coincided with the arrival of hundreds of street vendors who demanded to meet with the capital’s mayor, Mayer Mizrachi , whose administration began a process of evicting the informal vendors stationed on Avenida Central.
There were hundreds of vendors complaining and demanding solutions, while hundreds of other officials had to form long lines to receive their fortnightly payments.
The application of the new payment method aims to verify that workers effectively perform their duties and are not part of the so-called ‘bottles’, that is, people who collect salaries without working. There were a number of comments on the subject on social media. Some supported Mizrachi’s management, while others pointed out that the officials who actually worked were being subjected to a degrading process.
Civil society organizations, such as the Foundation for the Development of Citizen Freedom and Civic Space , made an urgent call on Monday, July 15, to the deputies of the National Assembly to act with transparency and respect for the electorate in the process of electing members and presidents of legislative commissions.
The call places special emphasis on those commissions that exercise the function of oversight and control of the other branches of the State, such as the Budget and Credentials commissions.
Both organizations emphasize that corruption and the opaque management of the Budget Commission of the National Assembly have been reported in recent years.
In fact, during the 2019-2024 period, media access to discussions within the commission was restricted.
They also referred to the Latin American Index of Legislative Transparency, which has brought to light the questionable handling of the National Assembly and, above all, of this commission.
“It is essential that political party representatives understand their role in representing the electorate. Citizens want to see them manage their affairs differently,” the organizations said in a statement.
They also point out that this new Assembly has the responsibility of stopping the abuse in the use of public funds and carrying out thorough background checks on appointments that require legislative approval.
The National Assembly is currently discussing the formation of the permanent committees. As will be recalled, negotiations have stalled due to disagreement between the Vamos bench and the president of the Assembly, Dana Castañeda, of the Realizing Goals (RM) party, regarding the number of seats that are due to independents in that body.
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met this Monday in Madrid with his Panamanian counterpart, Javier Martínez-Acha, to whom he offered technical collaboration and political support so that Panama can adapt its legislation to international standards in fiscal matters and regulatory transparency, as soon as possible.
The meeting between Albares and Martínez-Acha took place as part of the official visit that the Panamanian has been making to Spain since last Thursday, and in which he also met with Spanish businessmen.
During the conversation between the two, Albares also invited him to hold a second round of bilateral political consultations before the end of the year, after the opening of the process in January 2023, the Spanish ministry reported in a statement.
The foreign ministers strengthened relations on three main issues of shared interest: economy, political consultations and cooperation, according to the statement.
“Spain attaches particular importance to its relations with Panama, which are excellent,” says the text of the statement regarding Albares’ words to his Panamanian counterpart, to whom he conveyed that Panama is a strategic partner for Spain, since there are important Spanish companies awarded contracts for infrastructure works.
During the meeting, Albares announced that Spain will make a contribution of 200,000 euros to the International Federation of the Red Cross, responding to the urgent appeal to deal with the devastating effects of Hurricane Beryl in Central America, the management of which will be the responsibility of the Spanish Cooperation Office.
He also expressed the Spanish Government’s full willingness to promote a new legal and regulatory framework to articulate cooperation in the coming years, with new instruments and modalities.
Tocumen International Airport handled more than 9.38 million passengers in the first half of this year, representing an increase of 9.30% compared to the same period last year when 8.58 million travelers were processed.
In June alone, 1.62 million passengers used Panama’s main airport, which is 183,408 more than in the same month last year. 72% of the passengers who used the terminal last month were connecting passengers.
“The airline industry continues to show encouraging performance with an upward trend, which positively impacts Tocumen’s ability to meet its commitments and prepare new development projects,” Tocumen said in a statement.
Passengers to and from South America continue to be the main users of the Panamanian air passenger terminal with a 45% share, followed by North America with 29% and the Caribbean with 12%. Central America contributed 10% of passenger traffic and the European markets contributed with a 4% share.
Currently, 31 airlines operate at Tocumen International Airport, 15 cargo airlines and 16 passenger airlines. Flights are provided to 90 destinations.
At the cargo terminal, 17,731 metric tons of merchandise were handled at the end of June.
For their part, the regional terminals Panama Pacific, Enrique Malek, Scarlett Martinez and Enrique A. Jimenez, managed by Tocumen, SA, registered a traffic of 56,214 passengers and 1,580 aircraft operations in June.
Among the regional terminals, Panama Pacifico registered the highest movement with 34,008 passengers processed. Meanwhile, the domestic terminal operating in Terminal 2 processed 16,366 passengers.