PRESIDENCY MINISTER  Alvaro Aleman  claimed on Monday Aug.8, that  the two high profile international experts brought in serve on a committee to review the practices of Panama's  financial industry “wanted to use their appointment for a personal agenda.”.

He was referring to American Nobel Economics laurate Joseph Stiglitz and internationally renowned  Swiss law professor at Basel University Mark Pieth,who  both resigned on the weekend claiming “lack of transparency”

the committee was convened by the Panamanian Government in the wake of the Mossack Fonseca ,Panama Papers scandal.
Aleman’s comments  were released  as part of the installation of the National Assembly  Budget Committee He said that the resignation of the  two experts was due to ”internal differences.”
"They wanted us out of the parameters. They wanted to use their appointment to the commission for a personal agenda"  said Aleman indicating that the remaining members of the commission, largely Panamanian,  will continue to work to deliver a revised financial practices plan to the government
The committee had been set on  April 29 , in a highly promoted ceremony headed by  President Juan Carlos Varela, shortly after an investigation led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on the practices of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, which created complex networks of offshore companies to help political leaders, athletes and entrepreneurs conceal their wealth. Both principals of the firm were advisers to the Panama government.
The committee is now  Roberto Artavia, ex-rector of INCAE Business School; Gisela Alvarez de Porras, former Director General of Revenue and former Minister of Commerce and Industry; Alberto Aleman Zubieta, ex Panama Canal administrator; Domingo Latorraca, director of Deloitte, and Nicolas Ardito Barletta, former Panama president and head of the Centre for the Development of Competitiveness.
Last week, Stiglitz and Pieth justified their  resignation because of  lack of independence and transparency to perform the task at hand.
Aleman   denied that the executive exerted pressure on the international experts.
"The government has not he meddled in the work of the commission," he said
Costa Rican Roberto Artavia, third international member of the committee, sent a statement to the President saying  Stiglitz and Pieth disagreed with the way of work since the first committee meeting on June 4-5  at Columbia University in New York .
Alberto Zubieta, , said that, the two experts had a different vision from the rest of the squad. Zubieta, said that the preliminary report to the Presidency was 75% advanced.Pieth and Stiglitz claimed that the work was wider: "That  observations were applicable not only to Panama, but the whole world. And we we argued that it  refers only to Panama," he said.