What Happened
Panama’s comptroller, Anel Flores, and attorney general Luis Carlos Gómez Rudy are locked in a public dispute after Flores walked into an Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday and interrupted an interview with two forensic auditors from the Comptroller General’s Office.
Flores arrived at the Central Park building on Transístmica Avenue with deputy comptroller Omar Castillo and other officials, took the elevator reserved for prosecutors, and entered the room where prosecutor Adela Cedeño was interviewing the auditors. He also prevented the auditors from signing the statement that recorded their testimony.
The interview was part of an anti-corruption investigation into former vice president José Gabriel “Gaby” Carrizo over alleged illicit enrichment. The prosecutors’ questioning of the auditors is a routine step in that case and can later be used in an oral trial.
Video of the confrontation spread on social media, turning a long-simmering institutional clash into a full-blown controversy.
Why the Prosecutor General Reacted
Late that night, at 10:56 p.m., the Attorney General’s Office announced an investigation into the incident to safeguard the proper administration of justice and the separation of powers.
The office said the move followed a complaint filed by a superior anti-corruption prosecutor and noted that the auditors were testifying in a case handled by that office involving a former vice president.
On Friday, Gómez took the matter to the Judicial Council, the body that reviews situations affecting the independence of judges and prosecutors and examines possible overreach by authorities. The National Bar Association, which sits on that council, described Flores’ conduct as an “extralimitation of functions.”
A Conflict Months in the Making
The confrontation was not an isolated episode. Flores and Gómez have been at odds since both took office in January 2025, largely over the role of Comptroller’s audits in criminal corruption cases.
In July 2025, Flores called for faster criminal investigations and said the Comptroller’s Office had already done its part. Gómez answered that the Attorney General’s Office was operating under constraints because key technical inputs had not yet arrived and said the Comptroller still had 225 audits pending delivery.
The dispute escalated when Gómez presented two anti-corruption bills to the National Assembly. One proposal would have allowed the evidence needed to support corruption charges to move forward without Comptroller validation, a change that would have removed a major bottleneck in many investigations.
That initiative never advanced. In October 2025, President José Raúl Mulino withdrew his support and asked Gómez to rewrite both bills. Mulino said publicly that he did not like the proposals.
Why This Matters
The clash highlights a recurring tension in Panama’s anti-corruption system: prosecutors often depend on Comptroller audits to build criminal cases, while the Comptroller’s Office argues that its findings are central to protecting public assets. Flores’ recent powers under Resolution No. 3126-2025, issued in September 2025 under Law 351 of 2022, have also expanded his ability to order asset seizures and take other measures to protect public interests.
That legal and institutional backdrop makes the latest standoff more than a personal dispute. It reflects a broader battle over authority, procedural limits and the pace of high-profile corruption investigations in Panama.