CALLS FOR speedy a speedy investigation of former Labor Minister Alma Cortés and her sister Lourdes over a $25,000 taxpayer funded jaunt to Switzerland, follow a La Prensa expose.

Leaders of the General Confederation of Workers of Panama (CGTP) demanded on Tuesday, September 2 that Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nathaniel Murgas accelerate his investigation into alleged irregularities surrounding her trip to a meeting in Switzerland of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2011.
 Abelardo Herrera, secretary general of the CGTP, recalled that in 2011, the prosecutor formulated charges against several union leaders based on a complaint filed by Cortés for the alleged abuse of funds from the Panama Labor Institute.
 At that time, an audit of the Comptroller General, requested by Cortés, revealed that Mariano Mena, who was then head of the union, made disbursements between 2007 and 2009 of $363,474, of which $700 was used to buy 50 liters of beer.
Mena, as well as nine other union leaders, were investigated According to Herrera, the case against Cortés should be handled with equal gravity, as she is alleged to have used $25,000 in Institute funds for the trip. She took her sister along, who was then an adviser to the ministry, and submitted expenses for 27 days, even though it was an eight-day event. "We expect the same energy to be used in this investigation that was used to investigate our colleagues," Herrera said.
Cortés said yesterday that there were administrative failures of the Treasury and the Comptroller caused the irregularities. "They are the ones who should review how disbursements are made," she said. Treasury officials claim that they have tried to recover the money on a number of occasions, but have not been successful.
An earlier La Prensa investigation, backed up with photos of documents, ahow what appears to be double dipping (paid twice for the same expenses. Cortés said she could not return money she had not received.