News
Wednesday 11th September 2024.
September 10, 2024
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office is currently conducting a total of 19 investigations into the alleged commission of the crime of embezzlement to the detriment of municipalities and communal councils in different parts of the country during the period 2019-2024.
The anti-corruption prosecutor, Anilú Batista , explained that in the case of the municipalities a total of eight complaints are maintained, three of them were opened ex officio and the other five were initiated through complaints filed before various judicial offices.
Among the investigations carried out by the prosecutor’s office, there is one in the Municipality of Panama , for alleged irregularities in the appointment of people who were appointed and who paid part of their salary to their godfathers.
Another ex officio investigation is related to the disappearance of 28 vehicles handed over to the Municipality of Colón for irregular use of vehicles assigned to them by the Directorate of Administration of Seized Assets of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and a third investigation related to the Municipality of Pedasí, which was opened after an anonymous complaint.
The prosecutor’s office is also conducting several investigations into complaints filed by the current mayors of Chepo and San Miguelito in the province of Panama and Sambú in Darién.
In the case of Chepo, three complaints were filed, two for the alleged commission of the crime of embezzlement and another for the illegal withholding of Social Security Fund (CSS) contributions.
In relation to the communal councils, the prosecutor’s office is conducting 11 investigations, including complaints filed for irregularities in the communal councils of San Francisco, Ancón, Las Garzas, Parque Lefevre, in the province of Panama; Campana, in the province of Panama Oeste; and Jaqué, in Darién.
The prosecutor’s office also received four anonymous complaints about irregularities committed in the communal councils of Wargandí, in the province of Darién; El Silencio, in Bocas del Toro; El Valle de Antón in Coclé and Las Lajas in western Panama.
Batista explained that in all these investigations, requests have been sent to the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, to the municipalities, to the Government Decentralization Office and to the National Bank, seeking information on the management of the funds allocated for their operations.
Batista explained that visual inspections have also been carried out in various communal councils and municipalities in search of information on the disappearance of information contained in computer equipment, for which support has been required from officials of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (IMELCF).
Some of the complaints have been made public by officials of the communal councils and municipalities who, upon taking possession of their offices, have found that the information contained on the progress of projects and the management of the allocated funds has disappeared.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the disappearance of 600 large beams that were intended for the rehabilitation of the emblematic Bridge of the Americas, the Public Prosecutor’s Office reported on Tuesday, September 10, 2024.
The investigation arose after a complaint was filed by the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) for the alleged commission of the crime of embezzlement.
The beams, whose total value amounts to $3 million, were stored in a MOP yard located in the Farfán area. According to official records, the last confirmation of the existence of these structures on the site dates back to October 2023, during the previous government (2019-2024). During that five-year period, the State acquired the beams as part of a contract awarded to the construction company MCM Global to carry out the rehabilitation of the bridge. However, before the end of the administration, the scope of the project was modified, which led to the decision not to use them in the work.
The Minister of Public Works, José Luis Andrade, and the legal advisor of the entity, Ricardo Icaza, revealed in the National Assembly that the formal complaint was filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office on September 5.
This Thursday, September 12, at 6:00 pm, the President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, will speak on national television to report on the critical situation of the Social Security Fund (CSS), the Presidency of the Republic indicated.
The press conference scheduled for Thursday morning has been suspended , given the urgent nature and national interest of the presidential speech. The weekly press conferences, however, will resume on Thursday, September 19 at 8:30 am, at their regular time.
The president is expected to address the pension system of the Disability, Old Age and Death (IVM) program. The CSS crisis, specifically in the defined benefit subsystem of the IVM program, has reached alarming levels with a deficit of $673.5 million at the end of 2023.
The system’s reserves have been exhausted, leading to the use of trust funds that are virtually non-existent. Given this situation, current revenues are insufficient to cover expenses, and experts point to the urgent need to implement structural reforms and adjustments in the CSS’s financial management.
In recent weeks, President Mulino has led meetings with various social and political sectors with the aim of generating consensus around a law that allows for the sustainability of the pension system. The meetings have included medical unions, workers and representatives of political parties.
The consultative phase culminated last Friday with a meeting with the heads of the National Assembly, in which it was agreed to divide the debate into two tables: one dedicated to the sustainability of the IVM and another focused on improving medical services.
The bill resulting from these discussions is expected to be debated in the National Assembly between November and December 2024, and the measures envisaged are expected to contribute to stabilising the system in the long term.
Follow President José Raúl Mulino’s remarks on Thursday on national television through our YouTube channel . Subscribe and activate notifications.
Real-time electronic money transfers between 18 banks that operate ACH Xpress may be up to $5,000 per transaction.
The limit was raised from $1,000 (which was allowed until now) to $5,000, due to the increase in demand for these financial transactions, explained Alexander Acosta, executive vice president and general manager of Telered, the company that manages the ACH Xpress technology.
He explained that in the first half of this year, 734 thousand instant transactions were recorded , totaling $106 million, which represented 177% more than in the same period in 2023, when they totaled $38.45 million.
“The increase in the maximum amount per transaction is a response to the needs of users. They are looking for greater flexibility and speed in their financial transactions,” said Acosta.
As of August of this year, more than one million ACH Xpress transactions totaling $161.21 million had been recorded.
Michelle Camazón De Icaza, Customer Experience Director at Telered, said that the increase in the transaction limit of up to $5,000 will allow for an even greater increase in real-time interbank operations.
“There are many transactions that are carried out outside of banking hours, at night and on weekends, and by being able to transfer $5,000 there are now more options for users and businesses,” said Camazón. He said that the trend is to achieve real-time transactions using the cell phone number of users of different banks as a reference. “This will be the evolution of person-to-person payments with cell phones and then it will also evolve to other use cases from a person to a business,” he said.
In 2023, ACH Xpress generated more than 1.4 million cumulative transactions totaling $18 million. And it is used by 2 million people from 16 financial institutions.
The ACH Xpress system was activated in 2022, with only 2 banks interconnected in the system. Currently, there are 18 financial institutions.
Alexander Acosta explained that Bi Bank recently joined the system and two more banks are about to join BAC, Banco Aliado, Banco LAFISE, Banco Nacional de Panamá, Banco Pichincha, Banisi, Banistmo, BCT Bank, Caja de Ahorros, Canalbank, Mercantil Banco, MetroBank, Multibank, Scotiabank, St. Georges Bank, Towerbank and Unibank; all in the real-time transfer system.
Public services, taxes, shopping at supermarkets and department stores, restaurant delivery services and the purchase of travel plans are some of the activities that consumers in Panama are carrying out online or electronically.
This is indicated by a study by Mastercard and Americas Market Intelligence (AMI), which reveals a change in people’s purchasing and consumption trends, increasingly guided by the ease of using digital payment tools such as wallets, applications that incorporate debit or credit cards and contactless mechanisms, leaving behind traditional methods such as cash.
Germán Rosón , leader of the Mastercard team for Central America and the Dominican Republic, who is based in Panama, describes that, in recent years, users of financial products in the country are prioritizing contactless payments and online transactions with debit and credit.
Contactless payments are the norm and account for nearly 90% of in-person transactions made by people in stores, using both credit and debit products.
Rosón details that 87% of Panamanians surveyed have used digital payment methods, and debit and credit cards are the preferred digital payment method for transactions. “33% of respondents prefer to use debit and credit cards for online purchases, while 41% prefer them for in-person transactions.”
Another revealing fact is that 93% of Panamanians surveyed stated that they give importance or a lot of importance to security when choosing how to pay online. Therefore, two-factor authentication systems are key to protecting data and transactions. “More than 27% of Panamanians surveyed have already enabled two-factor authentication to protect their transactions.”
“The next frontier is the arrival of digital wallets, and we see how these products, both from merchants and banks, have evolved as a means of payment, starting to use cell phones. The other trend that will come is to use cell phones as a point of sale for transactions, which will help increase financial inclusion.”
Rosón said that for the first time in Latin America, users are saying they prefer to pay with a debit card rather than cash, which was previously the most popular method.
“The arrival of the cell phone as a payment method will increase even more,” he said, noting that this technology, along with artificial intelligence and biometric data, is part of the new modalities that are being seen in the global payment ecosystem.
Using cell phones to collect payments will be a practical method for small and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs.