Versión en inglés: Legislators, untouchable by Panamanian justice
Despite the countless complaints for alleged criminal acts by the legislators, in Panama various sectors coincide in that a radical change needs to be done in the system of justice to apply the certainty of punishment towards those who rule.
- Jason Morales
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- - Actualizado: 22/3/2017 - 08:28 am
Despite the countless complaints for alleged criminal acts by the legislators, in Panama various sectors coincide in that a radical change needs to be done in the system of justice to apply the certainty of punishment towards those who rule.
The above demand has been made after various cases of donations, contracts, and direct purchases in favor of companies close to pro-government legislators have been known with the use of budgetary funds for political proselytism purposes.
It is all about strategies and political campaigns, in which some of the biggest beneficiaries are the government legislators, who during this administration have channeled direct purchases from companies such as the Group Coremusa, linked to legislator Adolfo "Beby" Valderrama.
Also through efforts made by legislator Jorge Iván Arrocha, who on behalf of the humble population makes donations through Community Board of Río Indio with public funds.
In Arrocha´s case, it was widely known about the hiring of 47 people who would have received 49 thousand dollars in just three months, through the programme of national assistance (PAN)
This generated complaints that would ultimately be neglected by the relevant authorities, who may be into a sort of agreement to not investigate each other or to not apply the law as they would in any other Panamanian´s case.
The representative of Cambio Democrático (CD), Dinoska Montalvo, it is "outrageous that 71 legislators are untouchable, while 4 million Panamanians are subject to the law".
According to lawyer Miguel Antonio Bernal, this entire situation is a product of an agreement made between the judicial authorities and legislators.
"They forged with the Supreme Court, during the reform of 2004, legislators investigating judges and vice versa", he stated.
Bernal said that all of this is part of the damage that the current Constitution is causing, since the revocation of mandate does not apply, and legislators can be reelected as many times as they like.
"Panamanians should make a mental leap into not re-electing anyone," he said.
The jurist noted that in countries such as Colombia, there are laws such as the revocation of mandate, just as in most other countries but Panama.
In this sense, the former magistrate of the Electoral Tribunal Guillermo Marquez Amado said that the re-election issue in the public posts except that of President is causing a great harm due to the cronyism that is affecting the Panamanian population.
Marquez Amado holds that in the light of this reality, it would be healthy to debate the pros and cons of re-election, as in other countries legislators, congressmen or members of parliament are not allowed to run for more than one constitutional period, and there are also controls to prevent cronyism.
In an effort to try to clean up their image, legislators have created some investigative committees.
According to Carlos Lee, representative of Alianza Ciudadana Pro justice, laws are already in effect, there is not, however, any process going on in the public prosecutor's office to investigate the latest allegations and prosecute anyone who may become liable if it were the case should crimes become evident, to then send the process to the Supreme Court if the case involves legislators.
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