Grupo Gali, a company linked to Vice president  José “Gaby” Carrizo and his family which was created “mainly for the purchase and sale of bread, ice cream and snacks”  got contracts for more than $1 million for municipal construction projects s in Penonomé, La Pintada, Antón and Natá. The works were paid with decentralization funds.

Until 2009, Carrizo was its president and general attorney, but that year he was replaced in those positions by his brothers José Ignacio and José Guillermo, who appear since then as president and agent of the company.

The contracts included playgrounds, bus stops, aqueducts remodel parks, chapels and cemeteries report La Prensa.

For example, Grupo Gali built six bus stops for more than $28,000, which have premature deterioration or have the necessary wiring to provide them with light, even though they were requested to have lamps.

Over two years ago, it was hired by the Municipality of La Pintada to build two water wells in the communities of Villalobos and Orarí to benefit a thousand people, but the work has a 50% progress. The work should have taken 40 days.

In Panama Purchases there are no addenda of time or justification for the delay. The former mayor of La Pintada Ina Rodríguez disregarded a request for information made by this media through the Transparency Law, in April 2019.

 José “Gaby” Carrizo   is a subscriber, treasurer and director of Grupo Gali and , like his brother José Guillermo, legal representative of the company.who did not respond to repeated requests for an interview made by  La Prensa.

Less than four months had passed when the painting of a playground - at a cost of $28,000, paid to the Gali Group with decentralization funds - began to peel off at the Jacinta Arosemena de Morán elementary school in Penonomé.

This contract with Grupo Gali is part of 13 contracts - for a cumulative amount of  at least $750,000  - awarded between 2017 and 2018 and received, from the Municipality of Penonomé, according to data extracted from the Comptroller's website.

However, only eight of them were reported by the Decentralization Office of that municipality to La Prensa, which since November 2018 had requested information about them.