The lawyer, journalist and political analyst, Rodrigo Noriega, referred this Tuesday to corruption in the country, stating that in the last 30 years we have been “dizzy” with dialogues, forums, tables, consensuses, and the issues of corruption, inequality , extreme poverty, have been totally disowned.
He noted that Panama has an unfair tax system. “In Panama there are 43 free zones that do not pay taxes, more than 15% or 20% of the Panamanian economy does not pay taxes, it may be a little more due to the pandemic,” she stressed.
He asserted that Panamanians have normalized these issues and practices, for example: “bad streets are the product of corruption, there is no water because the Idaan has been looted, medicines are expensive due to corruption, etc. There has been mediocrity in the political part, all this is a ladder towards corruption”.
Noriega stressed that Panama is among the most corrupt countries in the world, “it is not a joke and it is not a competition where we want to be. We are losing billions of dollars from the public and private sectors in corruption every year in this country. We have to have a more robust justice system and have an administrative career.