Comunicado al país del Consejo Nacional de la Empresa Privada (CONEP)

The National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP), which is made up of the most representative business associations of the country’s productive sector, views with great concern the actions carried out by the Treasury Department of the United States Government which are damaging the principle of legal certainty and the rights to free speech and free enterprise.

Said actions, filed since last May, violate the rights of several Panamanian companies that were included in the Clinton List, condemning their investors and collaborators, and harming important sectors of our economy such as commerce, banking, real estate and communications.

Seven months later, the United States authorities have yet to present the arguments that justify this measure, neither has a case been presented in a court of law nor has due process been followed, a legal principle traditionally respected by the United States.

For the aforementioned reasons and as the main spokesman on behalf of the Panamanian private sector, we want to publicly release the following:

1. We call on the authorities of the National Government to demand respect for the due process and the principle of presumption of innocence; thus, defending Panamanian free enterprise, human rights and freedom of expression, principles held in high regard by our Constitution. Otherwise, it sets a disastrous precedent for current and future investors in Panama.

2. We call upon the Treasury Department of the United States Government to exclude the Panamanian companies affected from the Clinton List or to formally charge them before the US courts.

December 19th, 2016