MiAmbiente in direct contract with Movin

Environment Minister Mirei Endara has been heavily criticized for hiring a private legal firm in an effort to defend her scandal-ridden administration. The law firm in question, Tejada Abogados, has strong links with Juan Antonio Tejada, an executive as well as founder of the Independent Movement for Panama (Movin). The member of the ironically named group, which was publicly supportive of President Juan Carlos Varela’s election campaign, received $176,550 in a contract that Ms. Endara awarded Tejada Abogados for legal services.

This raised more than one eyebrow, if anything because the Environment Ministry counts with its very own Legal Team of 13 lawyers, all fully paid by the taxpayer. In an explanation that raised more questions than it gave answers, Ms. Endara justified the external hiring on the basis that the Ministry’s Legal Office only has competence in administrative law, and not in the sort of criminal complaints that she has become the object of. According to Ernesto Cedeño, a lawyer specialized in public contracts, the Environment Minister’s explanation is absurd. “All lawyers have to be prepared to deal with any case at hand” he argued, adding that “where their knowledge may be lacking, it is both in their interests and in the interests of the state that they become familiar with the issues at hand”.

According to official documents accessed by Panama America, the Environment Minister and the Ministry itself are facing no less than 12 criminal complaints for various irregularities, including preferential treatment of associated companies in the award of government contracts. One such case involved the purchase, for $60,000, of a vehicle for official use from Bahia Motors, the auto dealer where Miguel Heras, Mr. Endara’s husband, works as an executive. Bahia Motors is linked to Carlos Alberto Motta Fidanque as well Alberto Motta Page, who are the company’s Vice President and Treasurer, respectively. As it happens, Alfredo Motta, the founder of Movin, is brother to Stanley Motta, the main shareholder of TV station TVN, as well as principal campaign donor of President Juan Carlos Varela.

“This all smells rotten”, says former presidential candidate Juan Jovane. “There is a clear conflict of interests in awarding a contract to a firm that has strong links with a supposedly independent civic movement that was, in essence, a Varela campaign supporter during the election”, he stated.

Movin has been at pains to paint itself as an independent civic movement since, using its Twitter account to lecture the country on the issues of transparency and good government. In reality, it resembles much more the electoral arm of the private interests of the Motta family. It is no coincidence than only a few days ago, Motta-controlled TVN broadcast a show promoting Movin as the civic platform for the next election campaign. According to Mario Rognoni, a political analyst, “Movin is clearly after a role in the next political campaign: they show up in all political debates”, noting that the weakness of the ruling Panameñista party meant that the Mottas were preparing the ground for their new candidate. “Still, I doubt that they will find a suitably strong one” he predicted, “regardless of how much money they are prepared to throw at the project”.