Page 42 - Anatomy-of-a-Fraud

campaign staff were on the payroll of some government agency? How many civil
servants, at all levels, invested a good deal of their time in campaigning for Barletta,
thus neglecting the job all Panamanians were paying them to do? Time is money, and
the theft of time is no less serious a crime than the theft of money. But we will never
be able to establish any figures.

He who controls government bodies also finds it easy to directly finance some
campaign expenditures. For instance, the UNADE needs 100,000 wooden sticks to
make flags. It is very simple: The Ministry of Justice and the Interior (controlled by
the Liberals), orders the purchase of 100,000 suitable items, preferably from a sawmill
belonging to a government sympathizer. It pays with a check and charges the expense
to “Improvements to leased property”, or some such other item. Then, official vehicles
transport the sticks to UNADE headquarters and that is the end of that. Later, these
materials are taken to another government entity, for instance the Ministry of Finances
and the Treasury (also within the Liberal’s sphere of influence) where carefully
selected officials are assigned the task of making the party banners.

Another way of using the government’s material resources to help a
particular party would be for instance: let us say that the UNADE needs 15,000
gallons of gasoline for its campaign in Chiriquí. Again, it is very simple: The
Ministry of Public Works (whose head enjoys the dubious distinction of having been
the only cabinet member ever fired by Torrijos, allegedly for unlawful enrichment)
orders the needed fuel moved but instead of pumping it into government depots, the
gasoline is stored in a gas station belonging to a prominent UNADE member in that
province. From there on it is coasting downhill.

These examples are not hypothetical cases. They happened and were brought
to the attention of the Electoral Court’s District Attorney with full details.

On April 2, 1984, Ramón Lima, Esq., a distinguished attorney, and a member
of the Christian Democratic Party, filed a lawsuit for undue utilization of government
resources. The details of his legal action were published by La Prensa on April 12
(page 1A):