News
Wednesday 9th April 2025.
April 8, 2025
Two years ago, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office did not investigate the private citizens who favored the automatic extension of the Panama Ports Company (PPC) concession , because the Comptroller General of the Republic , then under the command of Gerardo Solís , assured the Public Ministry that the port company had fulfilled the “basic” obligations agreed upon in its contract.
That happened on September 19, 2022. That day, anti-corruption prosecutor Jacinto Pérez Domínguez dismissed a complaint filed a year earlier by lawyer Roberto Ruiz Díaz to investigate the alleged commission of the crimes of abuse of authority, usurpation of functions, corruption of public servants, embezzlement, and crimes against the internal personality of the State.
These are the same facts now being exposed by Comptroller Anel Flores , who replaced Solís last January.
However, part of the complaint filed by Ruiz Díaz survived the anti-corruption prosecutor’s dismissal: the one concerning the officials who, at the time, approved the contract extension with PPC. These were those who held public office and were also members of the board of directors or administration of the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) . In his complaint, Ruiz Díaz specifically mentions Noriel Arauz , the AMP administrator at the time.
Since Ruiz Díaz mentioned both private citizens and officials, a procedural breakdown was declared: the first group would be investigated by prosecutor Pérez, while the matters related to the officials remained in the office of the then attorney general Javier Caraballo .
And that’s the file that Luis Carlos Gómez Rudy found when he replaced Caraballo last January, which is why he wrote to Comptroller Flores on Tuesday, April 8, to request a copy of the audit conducted this year.
While the Comptroller’s Office found that PPC fulfilled its “basic” obligations under Solís, the situation was very different under Flores: the new audit notes that the Panamanian government has received, at most, 9% of what it is entitled to as the counterparty in the concession contract and owner of 10% of PPC’s shares.
As part of the investigation, Gómez sent three notes on February 7: to the AMP (Association of Public Works), the Comptroller General, and the Ministry of the Environment (MiAmbiente).
The AMP was asked to review the status of the container tariff review and to certify whether PPC reinvested Panama’s dividends without legal authorization .
He asked the comptroller if the new audit was being done.
And MiAmbiente asked for a copy of the environmental impact studies for Balboa and Cristóbal.
Prosecutor Pérez should surely have investigated how that 2020 audit was conducted, as part of Ruiz Díaz’s complaint. Instead, he gave credibility to its entire content. That audit served as the basis for granting the automatic extension of the PPC contract.
The prosecutor requested information from the Comptroller’s Office regarding everything related to PPC and, in response, was informed that the audit conducted on October 30, 2020, determined that the operations carried out by the port company were in substantial compliance with the basic clauses and obligations of Contract Law 5 of January 16, 1997 , and its addenda, “so there are no officials or individuals to link.”
That response from the Comptroller’s Office arrived on May 17, and four months later, the prosecutor closed the investigation.
“In this order of ideas, we do not have elements of conviction tending to determine that the indicated officials violated crimes against public administration, in the modalities of abuse of authority, usurpation of functions, corruption of public servants, different forms of embezzlement and against the legal personality of the State… Since the documents collected by this investigating agency demonstrate that the procedure was carried out in due form,” stressed Prosecutor Pérez in a note signed on September 19, 2022 , in which he ordered the filing of Ruiz Díaz’s complaint.
“The reported events do not constitute a crime, which is why this complaint is dismissed,” the prosecutor added in the same statement.
There is no record of any further investigations beyond requesting information from the Comptroller’s Office, nor was the AMP’s conduct investigated.
In this regard, the complaint stated that any changes or modifications to Contract Law 5 of 1997 must be authorized by those who approved the original document: the Cabinet Council and the National Assembly. Instead, the automatic extension was granted through two resolutions of the AMP.
Both resolutions (one from the AMP board of directors and the other from former administrator Arauz) were the subject of a nullity lawsuit also filed by Ruiz Díaz before the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, which has not yet issued a ruling.
In the midst of it all, the investment fund BlackRock submitted an offer to acquire the operation of the Balboa and Cristóbal ports.
Panama has lost approximately $ 1.337 billion in revenue from contracts signed between the state and Panama Ports Company (PPC) , following a poor negotiation of the concession contract signed with the company.
This was revealed by the Comptroller General of the Republic, Anel Bolo Flores, during a press conference, where he also revealed that the State only received $ 483 million , causing a loss to the country of $ 853 million .
“Now, that’s not the company’s fault… or it may be partly to blame. That’s the fault of many people, bad Panamanians, who handed over what they shouldn’t have, negotiated very poorly, and I tend to think poorly,” he emphasized.
Up to this point, Flores had been making a financial account of what the repeal of the contract clauses entailed, through a ministerial resolution signed by the then Minister of Commerce, Joaquín Jácome, in 2002 .
But Flores went further, saying that the company has also committed “non-compliance” and manipulated financial information to avoid delivering to the State what it was entitled to under a contract that was already disadvantageous for the country.
The comptroller stated that PPC engaged in transactions with related companies, which resulted in them failing to pay the State $ 300 million .
“This is a company that earns less the more it does. But the fact is that the company that earns the least is precisely the one in which Panama is a partner,” said the Comptroller General of the Republic.
The comptroller went on to point out that the company in which Panama holds a 10% stake, PPC, is generating increasingly less profit, despite the increase in the number of TEUs moved (a standard unit of measurement used to calculate the cargo capacity of ships, ports, and terminals). “I can assume that’s happening there. This is a very sensitive issue,” he warned.
“Panama must keep its word, as it is doing today, because there are important findings that reveal amounts owed to us in excess of 300 million for breaches of contract. We are going through a renewal that also failed to comply with all legal procedures and hasn’t been endorsed by the Comptroller’s Office,” Flores lashed out.
The comptroller explained that the first audit of PPC was conducted virtually due to restrictions imposed by the COVID -19 pandemic . In this second review, he added, there has been no cooperation from the company.
Flanked by his directors and speaking from the offices of the Comptroller General’s Office on Balboa Avenue, the comptroller announced that the corresponding complaints will soon be filed to criminally investigate those who allowed the renewal of a contract he described as “unfair.”
In his first official remarks on Panamanian soil, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated that the Panama Canal faces new threats and that they will not allow China , or any other country, to endanger the interoceanic waterway.
“We cannot lose sight of the security of the Canal. Today, the Panama Canal faces new threats. The United States will not allow communist China or any other country to jeopardize the operation or integrity of the Canal.”
The visit by the US official has raised great expectations in the country, in a context marked by the recent statements of former President Donald Trump , who has hinted at his intention to regain control of the interoceanic canal , pointing to China’s growing influence in the region as a “malignant” threat.
The political message of his presence has been evident from the beginning. One of his first acts was to visit the former Rodman Air Force Base, a strategic enclave during the US administration of the Panama Canal.
Then, in the afternoon, the ship will head to the Miraflores Locks, built by the United States in the early 20th century, bypassing the third set of locks at Cocolí, developed and operated by Panama after the Canal’s reversion.
Before arriving at Rodman’s former base in the Panama Pacific sector, Pete Hegseth arrived at the Presidency of the Republic for a meeting with President José Raúl Mulino , dressed in a formal suit. His belt with a striking buckle bearing the United States flag, combined with a tricolor handkerchief in his left jacket pocket, stood out—a detail that did not go unnoticed and reaffirmed the character of his visit.
At the opening ceremony of Pier 3 of the Naval Air Service (Senan), in the Panama Pacific sector, Hegseth participated and highlighted the historical importance that this place has had for the security of the Panama Canal and that since 1914, when the first ship crossed the route, it has been an engine of prosperity for the hemisphere .
Hegseth noted that the United States and Panama have done more in recent weeks to strengthen defense and security collaboration than has been done in decades .
The U.S. official noted that U.S. military personnel and SENAN agents are currently conducting joint exercises, something that will be repeated next year.
He added that this SENAN post is a tangible representation of the shared commitment between Panama and the United States to Canal security. Furthermore, thanks to a contribution of more than $5 million in support from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the pier was restored. He also stated that these infrastructure improvements have improved the Canal’s maritime security in the Pacific Ocean .
“We thank President Mulino, Minister Ábrego and their teams, as well as the Panama Canal Authority, for responding to these threats to safeguard the Canal. President Mulino’s decision to withdraw from the fragile Silk Road initiative is a reflection of his administration’s understanding of the threat posed by China . I want to be very clear: China did not build this Canal, China does not operate this Canal, and China will not use this Canal as a weapon. Together, with Panama as our leader, we will ensure that the Canal is available to all nations.”
On Tuesday, April 8, the Drug Prosecutor’s Office published a list of alleged members of a criminal group operating on 11th Street in Río Abajo. These are the most wanted individuals following Operation Hypoxia , executed early Monday morning, which resulted in the arrest of 11 people. The list is accompanied by a photograph with the faces of those wanted, who are: Joel Jodell Plummer Powell, Rolando Dafnis Melgarejo Rodríguez, Maximiliano Lamela Kirton, Enrique Nazareth Del Cid Ruiz, Carlos Alberto Asprilla Vargas, Rafael Mario George Del Río, Claude Anthony Daniel Anderson, Rafael Ernesto Cedeño Howell, Daniel Samuels and David Antonio Gómez Reid.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, these individuals were linked after the investigation. Therefore, the public’s support is requested to locate them and thus “eliminate” this group for committing crimes against public safety, in the form of assembly and conspiracy.
“This group of individuals obtains economic benefits in exchange for the sale of cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana, and pills to all types of pedestrians, public and private transporters, as well as homeless people on a regular basis, using minors for their illicit activity and utilizing the perimeter wall of the apartment complexes to avoid detection by security forces,” the Prosecutor’s Office emphasized.
A boat collided with a dock of the National Aeronaval Service (Senan) , at the Rodman Naval Air Base, just as the official visit of the United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth , was taking place .
The incident occurred minutes after Hegseth left the inauguration of the remodeled Pier 3 at the Capitán de Fragata Noel Antonio Rodríguez Naval Base.
According to witnesses, the vessel sped toward the dock despite multiple warnings issued from the base. The impact alarmed the personnel present, including members of the Panamanian and U.S. Special Forces participating in joint exercises.