The Comptroller General of the Republic, Anel Flores, reported that after a review process, an economic damage to the state of over 52 million dollars was detected, resulting from economic aid grants by the Institute for Human Resources Training and Utilization (IFARHU). Flores stated that following these irregularities, more than 4,000 files were analyzed, and yesterday the Public Prosecutor's Office was handed over 'more than 2,860 that sum up an economic damage to the country and the money of Panamanians exceeding 52 million dollars'. The Comptroller noted: 'We hope the Public Prosecutor's Office will do the same, and we can recover those funds or convert them into loans due to the misuse of Panamanians' money'. It is worth noting that the Public Prosecutor's Office has already brought about 20 processes against beneficiaries of the economic aid, which were granted during the administration of Bernardo Meneses, who is in preventive prison. The audits 'reveal poor management in the economic aid and scholarship program, causing patrimonial damage through a 'cashback' scheme, where recipients (of the funds) reimbursed money to accounts of the former director of the entity (Meneses)', indicated the Prosecutor's Office. An audit report reveals that Meneses 'has not been able to justify 419,000 dollars' in income, which supports the accusation of unjust enrichment, the crime that has kept him in preventive prison since last July. The Comptroller also announced that next week the Comptroller's Office will deliver additional audits related to 18 decentralized community councils of the previous government. 'You will find many of the famous, emblematic community councils that everyone wants to know what happened to their money, and we suspect that they were used, above all, for electoral purposes,' he stated during President José Raúl Mulino's weekly press conference.
