politics

Torrijos defends house

The president has made conflciting statements about when his luxurious beach house was finished.

Key documents about the construction of the house are missing from municipal offices.

Carlos Lemos/LA PRENSA

at issue:Martín Torrijos claims that no public money was used to build his beach house. However, taxpayers were charged for an ad he placed to attack his critics.1050358

In an advertisement paid for by the government and which appeared in several publications yesterday, President Martín Torrijos criticized a La Prensa story that questioned his acquisition of a beach house in Farallón.

His complaint, however, may only have brought to light more irregularities in the construction of the residence.

Torrijos claims that the beach house was finished before he took office, and one of his cabinet members stated that the two had a pre-election meeting there.

The La Prensa story states that the house was finished after Torrijos took office, a claim supported by the president himself in so far as he filed a statement prior to the election in which he said it was “under construction.”

In an attempt to determine exactly when the beach house was finished, La Prensa contacted the Departamento de Ingeniería Municipal de Antón to check the building and occupancy permits that would have been issued for the property. However, the department was unable to produce those documents.

La Prensa contacted presidential spokesman Erich Rodríguez Auerbach about the missing permits, but he was unable to provide any information about them.

According to public records, HSBC Bank made a loan of $450,000 for the purchase of five lots, upon which the house was built, in February of 2003.

While Torrijos was defending the source of the money he used to pay for the beach house, questions were raised yesterday about whether the house should have ever been constructed in the first place.

Anton Mayor Roger River Ríos said yesterday that the area where the house is located was supposed to be used for tourism-related projects, and not for single-family houses.

There is also an issue about whether the development encroaches on public property.

The La Prensa story highlighted the luxurious lifestyles being led by former presidents Mireya Moscoso and Ernesto Pérez Balladares, as well as Torrijos. The article cited the large beachfront estates all three own.

After its publication, there were numerous calls for greater transparency on the part of politicians, and specifically the president.

Torrijos, however, has responded by stating that his government has been the most transparent of any in the country’s recent history.