Panama wants Interpol help

2015 was the year of criminal investigations in Panama. The new government went after a number of individuals from the previous Martinelli administration, including the former president himself. From the Freedom House report that I contributed to last year:

Over the course of 2015, a number of Martinelli’s associates were arrested in connection with various investigations, including his former social development and finance ministers, as well as two former directors of the National Security Council. In August, the Supreme Court cancelled a $120 million radar system contract Martinelli had signed with an Italian company, due to concerns that the deal had involved bribes and kickbacks. Former minister of public safety José Mulino was arrested in October for his involvement in the radar scandal. In September, Ignacio Fábrega, the former director of the country’s securities regulatory agency, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to corruption charges; Fábrega told the court he had illegally shared information from his office’s investigation of the brokerage firm Financial Pacific with Martinelli, and had then dismissed the probe. Separately, former vice president Felipe Virzi, who served from 1994 to 1999 and is considered an ally of Martinelli, was arrested on money laundering charges in June; he was under house arrest at the year’s end. Martinelli’s nephew was arrested in late December in Colombia, on an Interpol notice, in connection with millions of dollars’ worth of inconsistencies in public works contracts.

I can't say that I've read too much progress turning investigations and arrests into prosecutions so if you know, leave it in the comments.

Anyway, the Panamanian government is now requesting that Interpol double its efforts to help them locate suspects who are believed to be outside the country.

Panama on Wednesday asked Interpol to "speed up" at least 34 requests for alerts regarding corruption sent to it by the Public Ministry so that the Panamanian judiciary "can give a response" in the assorted legal procedures under way.

"The Panamanian Public Ministry has requested more than 129 alert requests, of which 34 have to do with corruption. We, taking advantage of this international forum, are asking that those procedures be speeded up," said Panamanian Attorney General Kenia Porcell at the inauguration of Interpol's 13th Americas Regional Conference.

The Interpol notifications are international alerts that help security forces of member countries to identify, locate, arrest and extradite citizens wanted by the judiciaries of other countries.

Former President Martinelli is not one of the cases. Like most countries in the region, Panama has a long way to go in cleaning up corruption. Successful prosecutions will no doubt help.