Former Panama Police Chief Arrested Over Illicit Enrichment

Former National Police Commissioner Javier Fanuco was arrested on Thursday for his alleged involvement in a case of illicit enrichment, a police source reported. In this case, Fanuco filed a lawsuit against the journalist who conducted the interview and against the television station that aired it for moral damages. However, Judge Hilario González Ariza, then at the Thirteenth Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, ruled that the $25,000 financial claims were not proven. This is not the first time Fanuco has been in the eye of the storm. In September 2017, he was embroiled in a scandal over alleged sexual harassment, reported by a former police officer, after which the former commissioner was removed from the National Directorate of Traffic Operations (DNOT). The former officer was taken to the headquarters of the Judicial Investigation Directorate (DIJ) in Ancón after failing to justify the origin of $400,000.