From July 1, 2019 to date, the government has spent $213.5 million in consultancies for dozens of public entities, according to information from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
In 2019, the expense in this area was $117.9 million. In 2020, the year in which the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic began, what was disbursed for these purposes reached $38.1 million. This last figure is twice what, for example, was assigned to the Gorgas Commemorative Institute of Health, which that year received $19 million in budget.
While in 2021, the disbursement in consultancies reached $57.5 million. The entity that has bet the most on this type of service is the Ministry of the Presidency, in charge of Vice President José Gabriel Carrizo. From 2019 to date, he has spent $36.4 million on that concept.
In that group are also the Ministries of Health, an institution that has led the management of the health crisis ($26.9 million); and Economy and Finance ($24.7 million); as well as the Panama Metro ($16.4 million).
The State has budgeted to allocate $89.5 million to the contracting of different types of consultancies for 2022. To date, in the first three months of the year, of that budgeted total, some $2.9 million have been executed.
This is detailed in documents delivered by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), an institution headed by Minister Héctor Alexander, to lawyer Ernesto Cedeño, after a request for formal information submitted on January 27.
Consequently, on March 4, Alexander handed Cedeño a 30-page report. This includes a letter specifying that the “payment issued by the Panamanian State for consultancies from July 1, 2019, to date, and the projected expenditure in that area for 2022” are provided. .
The information also includes what the country’s municipalities have spent on this issue.
In total, the report considered 79 entities of the government of Laurentino Cortizo, who have used funds to hire consultants. This includes ministries and other institutions that make up the central government, as well as decentralized institutions, public companies, and financial intermediaries, such as state banks and superintendencies.
Of these groups, the central government executed $122.9 million; public companies $49.3 million; decentralized institutions, $28.6 million; while and $10.9 million were executed by financial intermediaries.
Between 2019 and 2021, $213.5 million were disbursed in consultancies, and the Ministry of the Presidency, with $36.4 million, heads the list of institutions that have used this type of contract the most.
A good part of the consultancies that the entity has commissioned, which is in the hands of the Vice President and Minister of the Presidency José Gabriel Gaby Carrizo, includes issues of communication, marketing and digital marketing, among others.
Between 2019 and 2020 alone, including the most critical months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fact that this entity awarded direct contracts for more than $2.6 million to the company Mercadeo Integral, SA for specialized services of market research and strategic communication planning. Carrizo, at the time, said that it was to help the media at a critical moment in the pandemic.
The Ministry of Health (Minsa), led by Minister Luis Francisco Sucre, is also in the group of entities that has disbursed the most in this matter. The Minsa, which has guided the management of the health crisis generated by the pandemic, allocated $26.9 in consultancies in 2019 and 2021.
While the MEF itself accumulated an expense of $24.7 million.
The Panama Metro, in charge of Héctor Ortega, is the public company that allocated the most in this area, with $16.4 million.
Until now, no ministry, decentralized entity or public company has explained what type of consultancy it hires, its costs, purposes or its scope.
Among the institutions that budgeted high figures for consultancies in this 2022, is the Ministry of Public Works (MOP), in the hands of Rafael Sabonge. According to the documents provided by the MEF, the MOP plans to spend $11 million in this area.
Another that bets heavily on this type of service is the Minsa, which budgeted $11.3 million for this concept. The MEF has on the agenda the use of $9.8 million for the same purpose.
While the Electricity Transmission Company SA (Etesa) budgeted $7.7 million.
Precisely, the manager of Etesa, Carlos Mosquera Castillo, is one of the best paid government officials. He receives $12,885 in salary, and another $2,539 in entertainment, which adds up to $15,424.
For its part, the Ministry of the Presidency included in its budget for 2022 spending $4.8 million.
The National Assembly, a State body that stands out for its multiple direct contracts, scored $350,000 for consultancies in 2022. For example, in 2020, in the most critical months of the health crisis, the Legislature, which at that time was chaired by Marcos Castillero, a PRD member, contracted the services of a communication strategy consultancy company for $299,600.
The contracting was authorized exceptionally, that is, the contractor was chosen directly. The Assembly today is chaired by Crispiano Adames, also from the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party.
Cedeño presented the request for information to the MEF, as a result of reports of millionaire contracts for the consulting service to various companies directly.
After the MEF delivered the amounts, Cedeño submitted a letter to the Administration Attorney’s Office in which the attorney, Rigoberto González, urges the MEF to present a true and complete breakdown of what has been executed in terms of consulting.
Cedeño calls for the MEF to “allow inspection of payments” to determine if there has been misuse of state funds, since he considers this is not possible with the gross amounts presented by the MEF in response to his request.
