Panama Audit Office to Send Ex-Public Works Minister Probe to Prosecutors

Panama’s audit office has opened a series of inquiries into officials from the previous government. The most prominent target so far is Rafael Sabonge, the former public works minister.

Comptroller General Anel Flores said on 18 September that the Sabonge probe will go to the Public Ministry, Panama’s prosecutors. La Estrella de Panamá reported that the referral will follow once the audit office completes its procedures.

Why It Matters for Panama

Sabonge headed the Ministry of Public Works from 2019 to 2024 under President Laurentino Cortizo. The ministry manages Panama’s largest state infrastructure contracts, including roads, bridges and hospitals.

The best-known project of his tenure is the Fourth Bridge over the Panama Canal. La Estrella reported that design changes, including dropping a monorail component, are under scrutiny for alleged cost overruns.

Panama uses the US dollar, so all amounts here are in dollars. The Contraloría, Panama’s comptroller general, audits public funds but cannot itself bring criminal charges.

The National Assembly chose businessman Anel Flores as comptroller in August 2024 by 47 votes to 24, TVN reported. He took office on 2 January 2025 for a term that runs until 31 December 2029.

What the Auditors Found

According to La Estrella, forensic auditors found known income of US$993,534.05 against spending of US$1,697,986.56. That leaves an unexplained gap of US$704,452.61, which the audit office treats as possible unjustified enrichment.

Resolution 2766-2026-DNAJ/MP of 8 September ordered a precautionary seizure of assets up to that amount. La Estrella reported that it covers two apartments, three bank accounts and registered vehicles.

The accounts are held at Banco General, Banistmo and Banco Mercantil, the paper said. The apartments are in the Mar de Plata building in Panama City and the PH Marinazul complex in San Carlos.

The order also reaches credit cards, safe-deposit boxes and other financial instruments. It rests on report 764-2026-DNAJ/UNDAF from the office’s national directorate of investigations and forensic audit.

Flores said the case is at an initial stage and called the figure preliminary, able to rise or fall. He added that his office is also investigating other former and current officials.

He said banks had received orders to share information on assets possibly linked to unjustified enrichment. He also mentioned cases involving the Public Registry, the national property and company register, without giving details.

The Fourth Bridge Dispute

The Fourth Bridge was announced in 2016 as a cable-stayed crossing with six traffic lanes and two monorail tracks. The rail tracks were meant to carry Line 3 of the Panama Metro across the canal, La Estrella reported.

On 11 June 2025, Public Works Minister José Luis Andrade filed a criminal complaint over the bridge and Metro Line 3. He alleged negligent management and put the extra cost at about US$1.84 billion, according to La Prensa.

Andrade said an addendum signed under Cortizo removed the monorail from the bridge without further explanation. Metro de Panamá then opted for a tunnel under the canal, which he said added about US$1.145 billion.

He put the bridge’s own increase at US$128 million over the original contract, plus US$566 million in financing. Andrade also said the Cortizo government suspended the bridge project from 1 July 2019 until mid-2023.

He said the original design with the monorail cost about US$1.5 billion, and the changes cut that to about US$1.3 billion. He argued the changes do not work and that the added cost could have built 36,000 low-cost homes.

He named Sabonge and former economy minister Héctor Alexander as directly responsible and asked the comptroller for an audit. President José Raúl Mulino, Cortizo’s successor, said the redesign had been justified as saving US$500 million to US$600 million.

Instead, he said, Panama ended up spending about US$1.8 billion more, El Siglo reported. In September 2025, anti-corruption prosecutors visited the ministry and the Banco Nacional de Panamá to collect records.

Other Complaints and the Other Side

Destino Panamá reported that prosecutors admitted a separate criminal complaint against Sabonge and others in May 2025. That complaint also names his brother Marcus Sabonge and adviser José Alejandro Rojas Pardini over alleged aggravated fraud.

Lawmaker Jhonathan Vega filed another complaint over the alleged overruns, which prosecutors admitted in August 2025, Crítica reported. Attorney General Luis Gómez said on 15 September he had not been told whether any file had reached anti-corruption prosecutors.

He cited the presumption of innocence and the rules that bar him from discussing named people before a verdict. La Estrella said the rule he invoked is Article 287 of Panama’s Code of Criminal Procedure.

La Estrella also listed a contract of about US$6.9 million with SmartBrix Centroamérica for modular hospitals among decisions under review. The contract covered the Panamá Solidario modular hospital built during the Covid-19 emergency.

Sabonge defended it at the time, saying the structures would be new, the paper recalled. The paper stressed that the asset seizure is a precautionary measure, not a conviction.

Who Rafael Sabonge Is

Sabonge, born in Panama City in 1978, is a civil engineer trained at the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining the cabinet, he founded the property firms Grupo Urbe and Porta Norte, according to his Spanish Wikipedia biography.

From 2010 to 2013 he managed construction of the Electoral Tribunal’s new headquarters, the same source says. As minister, he promoted Law 93, Panama’s framework for public-private partnerships on large projects.

What It Means If You Follow Panama

For investors, the case shows the Mulino government pursuing its predecessor’s largest contracts through auditors and prosecutors. Firms bidding on public works should expect closer scrutiny of addenda, design changes and financing terms.

For residents, the dispute concerns two works meant to link the capital with the area west of the canal. For anyone following the case, an audit finding is not a charge, and only prosecutors can take it to court.

For officials still in government, Flores’s mention of current employees signals the audits are not limited to the Cortizo years. For the public, the comptroller’s figures remain estimates until prosecutors and a court weigh the evidence.

What Is Not Yet Known

Sabonge has not been charged, and no statement from him appeared in the reports reviewed by The Rio Times. It is not known when the file will reach prosecutors or whether they will open a criminal case.

It is also unclear whether the bridge audit requested by the public works ministry has been completed. The comptroller has not named the other former and current officials his office is investigating.

No lawyer for Sabonge was quoted in the reports on the asset seizure. It is also not known whether he will challenge the seizure order.

Frequently Asked Questions

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