Panama’s Prosecutor’s Office has decided to initiate an investigation to study irregularities in prize payments of the Gordito del Zodiaco draw which took place in April. The public ministry will analyse the actions carried out by the Lotería Nacional de Beneficencia (LNB) and its authorities.
According to Prensa, the anti-corruption prosecutor will be in charge of verifying whether there have been irregularities when paying a $1m prize. This arises from different versions that the lottery gave in regards to the payment since it had initially said that the full payment had been already made.
A few days later, the payment was questioned in an anonymous video due to a possible network in charge of stealing winning lottery tickets, as Prensa reported. The video targeted Congressman and President of the Molirena Party Francisco Pancho Alemán, alternate Maira Esther González Camarena and the Director of the LNB Gloriela Del Río.
The LNB Director said that the winner only collected $2,000 and that the rest is in the lottery’s vault, pending collection. She also issued a statement in which she assured that all the processes related to the lottery, management of tickets and draws are handled under strict control in a joint effort with officials, “both internal auditing and the Comptroller General.”
And she clarified: “With the aim of keeping our prestige and the trust of the Panamanian people and our clients, we have requested the General Comptroller to increase and improve the existing control processes.”
Additionally, she urged that those who “seek to disqualify our management and the institutional image” file formal complaints.
Furthermore, the Secretary of the Molirena Party, Tito Rodríguez, suggested that the attorneys investigate and “find out if it’s true that [people] wanted to steal” lottery prizes.
The party also issued a statement suggesting that some of its members seek “to assault the group to satisfy their personal interests, by going against the great majority.”
It added: “[We urge] that the aspirations of a faction of this Molinera Party to obtain the leadership be demonstrated in internal elections, by contributing ideas and by guiding our members, not in a shady scenario where our people are attacked.”
