The Superior Court for the Settlement of Criminal Cases of Panama confirmed the vario order No. 473 of 2021 of October 13, 2021 issued by the Third Court Liquidator of Criminal Cases by means of which the prescription of the criminal action is declared within the process followed against 8 citizens for the alleged commission of the crime against the Public Administration, in the form of influence peddling to the detriment of the Gaming Control Board of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
In the Court’s decision, dated January 26, 2022, it is stated that “since the date of the event, consisting of the signing of the contract for the administration and operation of televised bingo game No. 7 of June 7, 2011, As of today, 10 years, 6 months and 6 days have elapsed, without a summons to trial having been issued, and in which case the statute of limitations of the criminal action would be interrupted, consequently a term greater than term established in numeral 1 of article 1968-B of the Judicial Code, modified by Law 35 of May 27, 2013, the law in force at the time the investigation began in this case.”
In response to the foregoing, in the Order of the Superior Court for the Settlement of Criminal Cases, it is also stated that: “this case was remitted to the Judicial Branch on July 10, 2018 (f. 3954 of volume No. 6) together with the Tax Hearing of July 9, 2018 (pages 3729-3749), for the respective qualification of the legal merit; date on which the criminal action in this investigation was already prescribed.”
It is valid to clarify, the Judicial Body details in a press release, that within the so-called “Buko Millionaire” case, for the crimes of forgery of documents in general and ideological falsehood, the Second Liquidator Court of Criminal Cases declared criminally responsible three ( 3) citizens, including a former minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and they were sentenced to the main sentence of sixty (60) months in prison, on August 31, 2021.
This criminal proceeding had its genesis in 2015, when the Televised Bingo concession was denounced to a company that supposedly did not meet the experience and requirements demanded by the law that at the time regulated the operation of games of chance and random (Bingo).
