Three figures absolved in the case of embezzlement related to the compensation for 'diablos rojos' bus owners now hold positions within the government of José Raúl Mulino. These are Nicolás Brea, confirmed as head of the Transit and Land Transport Authority (ATTT), Ventura Vega, Comptroller General's Secretary, and Jorge Ricardo Fábrega, presidential advisor.
Brea's recent confirmation to this position has reopened a story that seemed closed. In 2014, during the government of Juan Carlos Varela, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office began investigating 541 people for alleged embezzlement in the program to compensate owners of 'diablos rojos' buses. This all took place between 2009 and 2014, when Ricardo Martinelli was President of Panama.
Ventura Vega, who was an advisor to President Mulino before joining the Comptroller's Office, stated that he respects the justice system and its rulings. He said that the process began with a complaint filed by the 2009-2014 administration, but then, he added, the case took 'an unexpected turn,' and that is how he became involved. 'All of us who were in the institution and had to do with the process, from the person who received the documents at the counter, to the one who passed them to the processor, like the processor, the internal messenger, the treasury, all departments were implicated, all,' Vega said.
Nicolás Brea, who was also among the accused, defended himself when asked about the 'diablos rojos' case. 'I have great respect for justice. And I respect the rulings, no matter what they are. After 12 years in this process, a verdict has been reached. And I was saying: it can't be that you tell me that I am the creator of this process, that we did it wrong, that we did it right...,' Brea said in early March at the National Assembly.
Jorge Ricardo Fábrega, in his role as a presidential advisor, is part of the Executive's inner circle and has influence on government decision-making. Collectively, their positions cover key areas of the state's functioning. In July 2025, their names emerged as the architects of the vote hunt in the National Assembly to bring the deputy from the ruling party Realizando Metas (RM), Shirley Castañeda, to the presidency of the Legislature.
