Epasa sentence violates the right to know fate of public funds

To denounce the use of State resources for allegedly favoring officials, the newspaper Panama America was ordered to pay $25,000 after a ruling ratified on Monday by the Supreme Court.

The sentence, which is signed by the judges Hernán De Leon, Oyden Ortega and Harley Mitchell, force the newspaper to compensate the former Minister of Government and Justice Winston Spadafora .

The note, published in March 2001,  by reporters Jean Marcel Chéry and Gustavo Aparicio said that through the former Social Investment Fund (FIS) a road was conditioned on La Arenosa community in La Chorrera.

This way, according to the two journalists, gave access to a private farm owned by ex judge Spadafora.

Following that report, the former official filed a civil lawsuit against the newspaper company and both communicators.

Unions, on alert

Faced with condemnation of the media company, Blanca Gomez, president of the National Association of Journalists (Conape), believes that regardless of who owns the suspended media, which should be of concern to citizens is that officials believe they are untouchable.

"Such failures should call to reflection because officials need to understand that their actions will be under the scrutiny of journalists and society," said Gomez.

For his part, German Simon Bolivar, a member of the Forum of Journalists argued that any fines against any media represents a direct attack on freedom of expression.

"We do not agree with such sanctions because it restricts the right of citizens to know what is done with state resources. You can not limit or control information", he said.

According to the former president of Conape, Grisel Betancourt, the decision to realize a conviction that an investigative journalist put on the table any anomalies in the management of public resources will always be considered as an attack on press freedom.

"Although the sentence existed, I think this type of failure limits the research work. It strikes me that the exmagistrado Harley Mitchell has signed the document a day before leaving office", said Betancourt.

Other sources consulted assured that the issue creates enormous suspicion because the current administration Epasa Group must bear the cost ruling ordering the Panamanian supreme .

All this, despite the fact that the case arose when the newspaper was owned by the Arias family. Last week the Electoral Court fined with $ 1,000 KW Continente radio for not complying with a report on advertising.

They punished the two media are critical of the current government administration.

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Twitter

• ¿Considera la decisión de la Corte Suprema como una amenaza a la libertad de prensa?

• @Undia7

• "PINILLA NO ATACARÁ A LA PRENSA EISENMANN".

• @MisilPolítico507

• "Una medida algo dudosa que debiera poner a pensar a los gremios y dueños de medios".

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• "Varela habla de no atacar a los periodistas, pero se olvidó de su promesa de campaña".