The entire staff of the Archives Department of the National Police was transferred on Tuesday to work in Colon. It is suspected this action was taken as retaliation for the leaking to the press of a copy of the file of the current Chief of the National Police, Gustavo Perez, in which a disciplinary board recommended a dishonorable discharge in March of 1990. (Source - La Estrella)
Editor's Comment: And thus it begins. In my estimation this move was a huge strategic error on the part of Gustavo Perez. As I have predicted in the past, Gustavo Perez is currently in the process of changing or morphing from an asset for Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli, into a political albatross. Obviously this action to transfer administrative workers of the National Police - the entire staff of the archives section where the notorious memo from 1990 was stored - to work in Colon was a punitive action on his part. Punitive, as in punishment. No trial, no hearing, just make an arbitrary decision and issue the order. Sending someone who lives in Panama City to work in Colon is kinda like being ordered to the Western Front. When you screw up, you're sent to Siberia, like that. And, since Gustavo Perez doesn't know who leaked the memo he's apparently assuming it had to have been someone who worked in that office, so transfer them all. In other words, shoot them all and let God sort them out. In my humble opinion this appears to be an action taken by a man desperate to hide the truth and facts of the case, and to run from his own past. If he has nothing to hide and if he wants to cooperate fully with any investigation, then why does he have to make the lives of these people more difficult? Again, I don't see how Gustavo Perez can survive this scandal politically speaking. And after the news today, I think the fuse is burning and that sooner or later Ricardo Martinelli will be forced to cut him loose, "like a bad 'chute." It's only a matter of time. The only remaining question - how long will it take? This headline today didn't help Gustavo Perez, at all.










Former President Ernesto Pérez Balladares declared a net worth of $10 million dollars when he took office in 1994. In 2000, a year after leaving office, his personal net worth increased to at least $20 million dollars, in money held in at least eleven bank accounts and real estate. Of that amount, $9,558,000 was not declared by Perez Balladares when he left the office of President in 1999. This is indicated by a preliminary audit ordered by the then-Comptroller, Alvin Weeden, on 20 November 2003, to which this newspaper (La Prensa) had access. The audit found this money held by Perez Balladares in less than three months of investigation by auditors and accounting technicians. The audit found at least $20,828,000 in US dollars of money and assets making up the net worth of Ernesto Perez Balladares as of 31 August 2000, just over double the $10 million dollar figure he declared when he assumed office as President in September 1994. Part of that money was not included in the statement the former president signed on 16 September 1999, after having left office. The estimated net worth of the former head of state becomes relevant, considering Perez Balladares described the $5 million dollar bail established by the Second Tribunal in the money laundering investigation being carried out against him as "unfair." (more) 
The people who live in "El Potrero" are not talking about anything else. The $3 million dollar farm. Rumors are circulating everywhere, and everyone wants to know the location of the farm. There are very few people in the village who know the exact location of the farm which has been used to secure the release of 13 people on bail, including the former Ministers of Education Salvador Rodriguez and Belgis Castro, and the former Municipal Engineer Jaime Salas. The villagers are afraid of what might happen to their lands, once the authorities begin to investigate farm number 50728. Omar Osses wants the investigation to take place in order to avoid problems for the community. Osses owns one hectare of land. He, like many others, are wondering what will happen to their farms. They don't know anything, and they only know what they have read in the newspapers. There are others who hope the value of farm number 50728 could also apply to their lands. "I want to sell my farm to see if I can become a millionaire," said Jose Neri Gonzalez who also owns one hectare.
Panama's Special Prosecutors for Corruption, Organized Crime, and Drug Trafficking have asked the courts to revoke bail for fourteen people, among them the former Ministers of Eduction Belgis Castro and Salvador Rodriguez, as well as the former Municipal Engineer Jaime Salas. Panama's Attorney General, Giuseppe Bonissi, said he asked each of these prosecutors to revoke the bail for everyone who achieved their release through the use of farm number 50728. "They (the 14 accused) will have to speak with their lawyers who should recommend the replacement of the bond for those who meet the requirements," said Bonissi. The Attorney General also noted that it falls to the courts to decide if bail will be revoked or not. Farm number 50728 is located in pasture land near La Pintada in Penonomé, and was used to obtain bail for people involved in ten different investigations for crimes related to corruption, crimes against the public health, and money laundering, and it is now being investigated for alleged irregularities involving the over valuation of land. (Source: La Critica)

Panama's Seventh Criminal Circuit Prosecutor ordered that former Municipal Engineer Jaime Salas remain on house arrest, and also that he be barred from leaving the country. Salas was questioned for more than six hours yesterday by the Seventh Criminal Prosecutor Sofanor Espinosa, for the crime of fraud to the detriment of U.S. businessman Yana Franz. Defense attorneys for the former Municipal Engineer vowed to appeal the decision. (Source - La Estrella)
By DON WINNER for
By DON WINNER for 
The construction company Proyectos del Norte, S.A., which has a members of it's board of directors officials from the Panamanian National Assembly associated with former National Assembly Deputy Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, benefited from direct contracts awarded by the previous administration of Martin Torrijos worth more than $5 million dollars. But there's more - apart from the fact that the company's board of directors is comprised of people directly associated or connected with Pedro Miguel Gonzalez (a friend, a former driver, and a former bodyguard), Gonzalez received money from this company, according to documents to which La Prensa had access. Proyectos del Norte, S.A. - a company which operates from a family residence - obtained several contracts from the Ministry of Public Works and the Social Investment Fund worth about $5 million dollars during the last 18 months of the Torrijos administration. Gonzalez denied being a shareholder in the company and explained that the money he received in 2007 from Proyectos del Norte, S.A. was for the contracting of some heavy equipment he owned. "I've never been a shareholder of Proyectos del Norte, S.A.," he said. The largest direct contract awarded to Proyectos del Norte, S.A. materialized on 22 June 2009, just eight days before Gonzalez left office. The company was paid $3.3 million dollars to rehabilitate some roads in Chiriqui. The rationale used to bypass the requirement for an open public bidding process was for the "safety to the public and the State." (Source: La Prensa)
The former President of the Republic, Mireya Moscoso, could become the second former president to be investigated for corruption, after the Supreme Court ordered the case file against her to be returned to the Attorney General. Although Moscoso declined to make any statement about the case, some members of the Panameñista political party do not agree with the investigation, and they are even calling it a persecution. Attorney General Giuseppe Bonissi could investigate Moscoso over the alleged illegal handling of $70 million dollars donated to Panama by the government of Taiwan. The first former president to be investigated, Ernesto Perez Balladares, remains under house arrest. (Source: TVN Noticias)









The Deputies to Panama's National Assembly mentioned in the audit of the Social Investment Fund (FIS) prepared by Consultores López will be investigated by the Supreme Court, after lawyer Iván Montalvo submitted a complaint. Given the alleged commission of the offense of crimes against the public administration, Judge Harley James Mitchell will be the rapporteur of the summary on this case. Lawyer Iván Montalvo filed the criminal complaint with the Second Anti Corruption Prosecutor, however because the complaint involves Deputies to the National Assembly, the case was remanded to the Supreme Court. (Source: Kathyria Caicedo for Telemetro Reporta)





The defense lawyer for former Panamanian Education Minister Salvador Rodríguez said today on TVN Channel 2 news that Rodriguez's arrest is nothing more than an administrative failure of the Ministry of Education. Victor Almengor, Rodriguez's lawyer, explained the law for public procurement law states if the contractor has failed to comply with his responsibilities, then the performance bond should be implemented. But in the case of contracts for the removal of fiberglass insulation from schools the Ministry of Education has not done so, and rather they have chosen to prosecute his client. Almengor insisted there is no evidence indicating Rodriguez had committed a crime. (Source: ABDIEL AUGUSTO PATINO for La Estrella)
Panama's Anti Corruption Czar Fernando Núñez Fábrega said this morning that computers were stolen from the offices of the National Council of Transparency Against Corruption. Núñez Fábrega reported on the TVN Channel 2 morning news broadcast the theft is clearly politically motivated to "protect someone who feels besieged by the Council's investigations." Núñez Fábrega said it was this person who sent someone to steal the material. The importance of this theft is that all of the confidential information related to the investigations their teams were conducting resided in those computers, said Núñez Fábrega. Nunez Fabrega emphasized that the person who entered the the offices of the National Council of Transparency against Corruption had "more skill than "Spider-Man." (Source: Manuel Vega Loo for La Prensa)
