Draft bill 7.

Summary.

The draft bill establishes a framework for investigating and prosecuting offenses against the Public Administration, money laundering arising from those offenses, and other criminal conduct harming the State. It covers the protection of state assets, the restitution and recovery of assets, and international cooperation, in accordance with the Constitution and treaties ratified by Panama. It defines seized and forfeited assets, complex cases, freedom of proof, regulated entities, and the functions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Público), which for purposes of this law means officials of the Office of the Attorney General (Procuraduría General de la Nación). Investigations may begin on the authorities’ own initiative, following a report, or following a complaint by a party to the proceedings. Affected public institutions must report the offenses, become complainant parties, preserve records, and comply with investigative requests.

A prosecutor could gather evidence and conduct asset investigations. Expert examinations and audits could be carried out by staff of public entities, public universities, police bodies, or the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Instituto de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses), without a prior audit or endorsement by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (Contraloría General de la República) when the facts can be established by other means. The Public Prosecutor’s Office could order the provisional seizure of assets linked to an offense, subject to judicial review within 10 days. A prosecutor could request that a case be declared complex to allow reasonable extensions of time limits and could keep proceedings confidential for 30 consecutive days, renewable for the same period, with judicial review at the defense’s request.

The text regulates court-authorized interception of communications for up to 3 months, renewable for the same period, and the seizure of private correspondence, with subsequent judicial review within 48 hours in the specified exceptional circumstances. It authorizes undercover operations, surveillance and tracking, domestic and international controlled deliveries, controlled purchases, and seizure of data under the Code of Criminal Procedure. It establishes judicial oversight of those techniques, reasoned prosecutorial decisions, and conditions for using information obtained in another proceeding. Communications companies must cooperate confidentially. People formally required to provide information or assistance must respond within the set deadlines; unjustified failure to comply could result in escalating coercive fines ranging from 1,000 balboas (B/. 1,000.00) to 50,000 balboas (B/. 50,000.00). It also regulates the admissibility in proceedings of documents obtained from official websites.

Plea agreements with individuals would be governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure. For legal entities, such agreements could include fines, restitution or recovery of assets, compliance programs, cooperation, and compensation, with safeguards and possible revocation for noncompliance. The effective cooperation framework requires participants to acknowledge their involvement, surrender assets or valuables, assist with investigative steps, and undertake to testify. It provides for benefits relating to punishment or prosecution, subject to an agreement and judicial approval. It provides for protection of a cooperating person’s identity and safety, separation in prison from other perpetrators or participants, and the possible inclusion of cooperation after the intermediate hearing. For whistleblowers, witnesses, and cooperating persons, it provides measures based on risk, including family protection, relocation, assistance, security, and employment protection. The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Judicial Branch (Órgano Judicial) would establish protocols; workplace retaliation would be punishable by a fine of 1,000 balboas (B/. 1,000.00) to 25,000 balboas (B/. 25,000.00).

Internationally, the draft bill provides for legal cooperation, spontaneous transmission of information, and joint investigation teams. It specifies what their agreements must contain, how the teams are directed when operating in Panama, and how information may be exchanged directly. It regulates locating and securing assets abroad, their possible early sale, and cooperation to restitute or recover property after a final judgment. Restituted state property would return to the affected entity; forfeited assets that were not state property would go to the National Treasury (Tesoro Nacional). Of those assets, 30% would be allocated to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Judicial Branch, and the Ministry of Public Security (Ministerio de Seguridad), according to the prescribed distribution. The Ministry of Economy and Finance (Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas) would establish mechanisms for tracing, transferring, and disbursing the assets.

Finally, it amends the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding limitation periods, suspension, conflicts of interest involving former judicial officials and prosecutors, and the appearance and replacement of expert witnesses. It amends the Criminal Code regarding community service and Law 59 of July 29, 1999, to separate criminal investigations of unjustified enrichment from the report of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic. It amends Law 23 of 2015 regarding the updating and safeguarding of due diligence records. The content also concerns the Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia) and the Prison Technical Board (Junta Técnica Penitenciaria), and may be of interest to public institutions, communications companies, insurers, financial institutions, supervised professionals, employers, and people under investigation or cooperating with authorities.