News
Wednesday 16th July 2025.
July 15, 2025
At least $5 million has been misused by Panamanian unions, according to preliminary audits by the Ministry of Labor and Workforce Development (Mitradel).
The figure corresponds to an analysis of recent years regarding the management of the Trade Union Training Fund, revealed Minister Jackeline Muñoz , who stated that some of the findings are already being investigated by the Public Ministry.
“Five million. The last amount reviewed by the auditor from the last few years was five million,” Muñoz stated, noting that the funds were supposed to be used for job training activities, but were instead diverted to improper payments, such as utilities or rent. “It was for training, not for paying electricity,” he emphasized.
The minister explained that the Ministry of Trade and Industry currently has a team of 12 auditors who have been reviewing “cash registers and documentation rooms” linked to the union organizations benefiting from the fund.
The process has generated friction: “Several unions have filed criminal complaints against me because the fund isn’t being disbursed,” he revealed.
However, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs justified the suspension of payments due to the magnitude of the irregularities found. She clarified that the ministry does not act ex officio, but that the findings were forwarded to the Prosecutor’s Office, which has already opened criminal investigations. “The irregularities were too obvious,” said Muñoz.
In total, Panama has 544 registered unions, but some 17 federations exercise virtual control over the training fund, despite representing less than 10% of the union organizations.
This concentration, according to Muñoz, also raises questions about transparency and equity in the use of resources.
While the investigations are ongoing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MITRADEL) has suspended disbursement of the fund. The measure is temporary, but has no set reversal date. “They let them do whatever they wanted,” the minister lamented, referring to the historical handling of these funds.
To prevent further abuses, the ministry will implement a pre-control system.
The Electoral Tribunal (TE) updated the list of recall proceedings filed against elected officials. A new name appears on the list: Mayer Mizrachi , mayor of the district of Panama.
The revocation request was submitted by citizen José Guardia this Monday, July 14, according to the TE registry .
However, no request for recall was registered for the capital’s vice-mayor, Roberto Ruiz Díaz .
Previous recall proceedings had already been filed against nine other officials, including the mayor of Arraiján, Stefany Peñalba , and her deputy, Oliver Ríos , nominated by the Popular Party and also as independent candidates; as well as the mayor of Barú, in Chiriquí, Franklin Valdez , nominated by the Panameñista Party.
Mizrachi, for his part, was also nominated by the Popular Party for the capital’s mayor in the 2024 elections.
The process of recalling the mandate of mayors has provisions that differ from those that govern deputies , according to the Electoral Code.
The mandates of the capital’s mayors, elected either by free nomination or by political parties, follow a recall process detailed in Article 508 of the Electoral Code, which in turn refers to the provisions of paragraph 3 of Article 498 of the same text.
If a mayor was nominated by a political party, whether registered or not, the law explains that a recall can be sought for:
- Serious violation of the party statutes , provided that the causes are provided for in the statutes and have been approved by the Electoral Tribunal before the date of the nomination.
- He resigns from the party.
- Decision of the voters of the respective constituency , through a recall referendum called for this purpose in the terms indicated in this section.
For the recall to be effective, 30% of the signatures of the citizens registered on the electoral roll of the corresponding constituency at the time of the election must be collected.
The collection period will depend on the number of voters listed on the electoral roll.
In a constituency with fewer than 5,000 voters, it’s 30 calendar days; between 5,000 and 25,000 voters, it’s 60 calendar days; between 25,000 and 100,000 voters, it’s 90 calendar days ; and for more than 100,000 voters, it’s 120 calendar days.
Recently, the TE changed the methods for citizens who support the recall to sign it. This endorsement must be guaranteed in person at the TE regional office for each constituency, and the endorsement may also be withdrawn.
The Comptroller General’s Office has denied approval of a payment requested by the Ministry of Health (Minsa) in favor of the consortium Salud e Higiene Hospitalaria , to which the company Hombres de Blanco Corp. belongs.
The payment, for just over $2.8 million, corresponds to the cleaning and disinfection services provided between January and June 2025 at the Nicolás A. Solano Regional Hospital (La Chorrera), the Matías Hernández Mental Health Institute (Río Abajo), and the San Miguel Arcángel Hospital (San Miguelito).
The request for endorsement was sent to the Comptroller’s Office on May 21, when the company had been providing the service for almost five months.
On Friday, June 11, the auditing entity, through the Document Monitoring, Control, Access, and Audit System (Scafid) , notified that the contract had been returned to the Ministry of Health for certain “corrections.” It is unknown what aspects need to be corrected or what is preventing the payment from being endorsed.
The Press consulted both the Ministry of Health and the Men in White Corp., but neither party reported what the Comptroller’s Office has requested to be corrected.
That same day (May 21), the Ministry of Health submitted a second request for approval, corresponding to another contract with Salud e Higiene Hospitalaria. This contract covers cleaning services at the Anita Moreno , Joaquín Pablo Franco Sayas , and Cecilio Castillero hospitals , all located in Azuero , for a total of $2.6 million. This contract remains with the Comptroller’s Office, awaiting approval.
The Panama-David Railway Secretariat directly contracted a company to conduct a geotechnical study along the railway line, including surveys, laboratory tests, and field trials, for a total of $1.1 million.
The objective is to determine the load-bearing capacity, stability, and mechanical behavior of the soils and rocks, which will allow for the formulation of recommendations for the design of the civil works associated with the project, the organization emphasized.
The contracted company is Tecnilab, SA , which in 2018 was also responsible for the preliminary geotechnical studies, the Secretariat reported.
“Hiring the same company allows for methodological consistency and avoids incompatibilities between past and new field campaigns, reducing the risk of reprocessing or reinterpretation,” the organization explained.
It was also indicated that this represents a “time saving on the learning curve.”
The study includes a total of 70 strategically distributed boreholes to cover the areas corresponding to the train’s viaducts and tunnels. Each borehole is expected to reach a depth of between 40 and 50 meters. The Panama-David-Border train project is valued at between $4 billion and $4.5 billion. It includes a total of 475 kilometers of railway between Panama Pacifico and the city of David, in the province of Chiriquí, and will have 14 stations
Former Coclé Governor Richard Fifer , who was serving a 120-month prison sentence for aggravated fraud, received a precautionary measure of home confinement due to health problems.
Judicial sources confirmed that Fifer, who was being held at the Tinajitas prison, was sent to his residence to receive specialized medical treatment that could not be provided in prison.
Fifer was sentenced to 120 months in prison for aggravated fraud against Gold Dragon Management, after reaching an agreement to sell 2% of the shares of Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. and mining concessions, which he later failed to fulfill.
Fifer’s defense team had requested that their client be granted a change of sentence from prison to house arrest for health reasons, but an evaluation conducted by doctors at the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (IMELCF) did not determine that the former governor suffered from any illness that would justify such a decision.
This Tuesday, July 15, is the deadline to submit the sworn statement of accounting records for fiscal year 2024 to the General Directorate of Revenue (DGI).
This requirement is part of the obligations established in Law 254 of 2021 , which seeks to strengthen fiscal transparency and compliance with international standards regarding the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
The presentation of this declaration not only avoids possible administrative sanctions, but also guarantees compliance with the regulations governing the activity of resident agents, who act as a legal link between private interest foundations or trusts that do not carry out commercial operations in Panama and offshore companies ( companies that operate outside Panamanian territory but are registered in the Public Registry of Panama ) and the Panamanian State.
- Legal entities shall be required to provide their resident agent, annually by April 30, with the accounting records or a copy thereof relating to the fiscal year ending December 31 of the previous year.
- Subsequently, the resident agent must submit this declaration to the DGI annually, by July 15, by entering the e-Tax 2.0 Tax Administration systemwith their User ID/RUC and NIT.
- After logging into the e-Tax 2.0 system, a menu of options will appear. Resident agents must select “Resident Agent” and then “Resident Agent Accounting Records Declaration V2.” The system will display various forms that must be completed.
Those who fail to comply with the obligations established in the measure may receive fines ranging from $5,000 to $1 million, in the case of legal entities.
Resident agents who fail to comply with these obligations could be subject to fines ranging from $5,000 to $100,000.