The country's administrative attorney, Rigoberto Gonzalez, has opened a disciplinary process against Joseph Fidanque III, General Manager of Tocumen S.A. This followed complaints made against Mr. Fidanque III in relation to direct procurement contracts awarded to private businesses of which he was both shareholder and member of the board of directors.
The investigation could result in the dismissal of Mr. Fidanque III, who is known to have close links with Stanley Motta, the principal campaign donor of President Juan Carlos Varela. Mr. Gonzalez confirmed that last April 12 his office received a complaint by local lawyer Edwin Sanjur, accusing Mr. Fidanque III of violating article the 14 of law 23 of 2003, which regulates the creation of the state company in charge of managing Panama’s public airports.
Article 14 literally establishes that: " the members of the board of directors, the general manager and internal auditor are expressively forbidden from undersigning contracts, be them verbal or written, with any of the state companies in charge of administering public airports, for the purpose of the supply of goods or services, whose benefits would directly accrue to them or to relatives of theirs up to four times removed, or for the benefit of any company in which they should appear as shareholders. Failure to comply with this article shall result in immediate dismissal".
Mr. Fidanque III publicly admitted to being a director of and shareholder in at least two private companies which were directly awarded procurement contracts by Tocumen S.A., while he was General Manager of the latter.
To this day, Mr. Fidanque III appears as board member at Cochez y Cia., S.A. and Geo F. Novey, Inc., according to the Panamanian public register of companies. These two private companies alone have received 27 direct procurement contracts since Mr.
Fidanque III took over as general manager of Tocumen S.A. Faced with these facts, Atty. Gonzalez confirmed that his office had admitted the complaints made on April 12 via resolution number DS-93- 2016, whereby he had launched a preliminary investigations aimed at verifying the relevant facts.
“Resolution number DS-93- 2016 was delivered to the General Manager of Tocumen International Airport via note number SIQ-44- 16 of April 12 2016, which contained a request to produce documentary evidence relating to the subjects of the complaint, as well as an authenticated copy of the public act of official inauguration of Mr. Fidanque III.”
Atty. Gonzalez stated that a response was received on April 19, 2016, via note 01.03.241-AL- 16 dated April 18, 2016.
On May 6, 2016, the office of the administrative Atty. made a request for further information. The legal proceedings have obliged Mr. Fidanque III to appoint a legal defense: this is none else than Juan Antonio Tejada Espino, a leading member of Movin (Independent Movement for Panama), a supposedly independent political organization, which in reality is highly supportive of President Juan Carlos Varela's administration.
Atty. Gonzalez confirmed that his office had already issued a resolution containing preliminary administrative conclusions regarding this case to the President of the Board of Directors of Tocumen, S.A.: Economics and Finance Minister Dulcidio de la Guardia.
'The economics and finance ministry is the institution in charge of determining whether any disciplinary process against the General Manager of Tocumen S.A. should apply', informed Mr. Gonzalez.
Defense
Last April, Mr. Fidanque III made a lame attempt at explaining away this blatant conflict of interest and influence peddling by arguing that no one in the procurement dept. of Tocumen S.A. was aware of his shareholdings an directorships.
Regardless, other sector specialists have gone further and argued that Mr. Fidanque III has also violated article 8 of law 23 of 2003. Said article establishes that 'the general manager and internal auditor will dedicate themselves exclusively to their respective functions at Tocumen S.A., which will be incompatible with any of the kind of function, be it public or private, as well as with the exercise of liberal professions or commerce, with the only exception of university teaching, outside of working hours'.
Mr. Fidanque III also admitted to being a shareholder in many other companies and to being directly linked to the family business, Fidanque Telecommunications.
Additionally, he admitted to being a business partner of Guillermo Henne Motta in other companies besides Panama Waste Management. These include consulting company Indesa, as well as Cochez y Cia., S.A. and Geo F. Novey, Inc.
Panama Waste Management was awarded a procurement contract worth a total of $214, 327 for waste management services at the airport, beating four other competitors. Prior to the award of said contract, the company had already enjoyed the direct award of four contracts for waste management services during the course of 2015. Two out of the four contracts were awarded on the same day, April 17, for a consideration of $102,417 and $136,161, respectively.
Political influence peddling
Political sources confirmed that the appointment of Mr. Fidanque III to his current position was the result of political influence exerted by Stanley Motta, principal campaign donor of President Juan Carlos Varela.
In order to assume his current responsibilities, Mr. Fidanque III had to resign from his position as a director of Copa Airlines. Copa Airlines happens to be the principal client of Tocumen International Airport.
One of the first jobs of Mr. Fidanque III was to halt the construction of the south terminal at Tocumen International Airport, so that changes could be made to its specification that would take account of the preferences of Copa Airlines. The south terminal had been conceived for intercontinental flights, as is customary in large international city hubs.
During the course of his duties, Mr. Fidanque III has also favored other private businesses with strong links to the Mottas. Such is the case of insurer Assa, to whom Tocumen S.A. awarded a contract worth $1,945,753 for insurance again civic responsibility, terrorism and staff malpractic
Joseph Fidanque III: from businessmen to public oficial
Copa Airlines, Indesa, Cochez y Cía. S.A., Geo F. Novey, Inc., Fidanque Hermanos e Hijos S.A., Mobilphone de Panamá, Star Contact, Multiholding Corporation, Colón Import & Export and Felix B. Maduro: these are just a few of the private businesses in which Mr. Fidanque III maintains investments. Some of these are large private concerns with multi-million dollar sales, such as in the case of Copa airlines and Cochez y Cia.
Nevertheless, on July 8, 2014, Mr. Fidanque III abruptly changed careers, becoming a civil servant by virtue of accepting his appointment as general manager of a state company by President Juan Carlos Varela.
At present, Mr. Fidanque III is the General Manager of state company Tocumen S.A., the organization in charge of managing the country's airports. His monthly salary of $10,000 is considerably lower than the income he used enjoys as private businessman.
What could account for someone forgoing significant amounts of his income to become a civil servant? Behind-the- scenes, shady business deals can. As if to prove this point, it appears to be no coincidence that Mr. Fidanque III has, since taking office, directly benefitted private businesses he has a stake in by directly awarding them procurement contracts. Official documents prove that even his family businesses have been the beneficiaries of supply contracts issued by other state entities.
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