99’s fine in the air for now

However the Martin Torrijos administration neglected to collect the fine leaving it to new head of state to decide if he is going to pay it or not.

The denouncement against the supermarket chain was made by Pedro Acosta, of the Consumer Protection Association, in 2007 and after investigations carried out by AUPSA, it was was demonstrated that the shops were breaking the law.

The supermarket’s lawyers requested that AUPSA considered waving the fine, but the organization maintained the sanction.

The lawyers decided to appeal to the Board of Directors of that Authority formed by the Ministries of Agricultural Development, Health, Commerce and the AUPSA administrator.

“I do not understand why is taking so long for the authorities to decide the case” said Acosta.

He believes that the appeal process will be put on hold for the time being, taking into account that the 99 chain belongs to President Martinelli, “in what it is clearly a violation of consumers’ rights,” said Acosta.

AUPSA administrator, Gilberto Real told La Estrella that he complied with his part andit now is up to his successor to follow up the 99’s case and send the file to the new Board of Directors.

However, he added it would be interesting to see if one of the first actions of the new administrator would be to reactivate the cases “taking into account the implications.”

The new Labor Minister, Alma Cortes, who was one of the lawyers defending the supermarket chain, declined to make any comments and said that she is not handling the matter anymore.

The new AUPSA administrator, Alcides Jaen, decided not to talk about the fine and added that currently he is just getting to grips with the management of the authority. “My role within the AUPSA, until now has been technical.”

Real explained that Jaen will not be able to eliminate the fine, because all the requirements have been complied with.

President Martinelli faces his first test with this case and the citizens are waiting to see if he will honor his promise of transparency and to punish those who break the law.