PANAMA Law and Practice Contributed by: Inocencio Galindo, Omar Rodriguez, Maria Eugenia Brenes and Joy Paull Torres, Morgan & Morgan
• intent to conceal or disguise – the offender must intend to hide the origin, ownership or destination of the funds; and • use of financial or economic systems – the funds are inserted into the financial system through trans - actions or operations. The illicit activities in money laundering are called predicate offences. These are detailed in the Criminal Code (they include crimes against industrial prop - erty rights, financial crimes, forgery of documents in general, organised crime, and many others; see the Criminal Code for further detail). These acts, or help - ing someone to evade the legal consequences of such punishable acts, will be sanctioned with a penalty of five to 12 years in prison. Attribution of Criminal Liability To attribute guilt, it is necessary to prove that the funds came from one of the so-called predicate offences and that the person who received, deposited or trans - ferred them was aware of their illicit origins. The pen - alty ranges from five to 12 years in prison. Obligation to Prevent Money Laundering The legal basis is Law 23 of 2015, which establishes mandatory compliance for: • financial institutions; • non-financial obligated entities; and • professionals (eg, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents). The nature of the offence for non-compliance is as follows: • administrative – failure to implement AML controls; • criminal – wilful omission or facilitation of launder - ing; and • civil – liability for damages caused by negligence. Authorities Responsible for Enforcement Competent authorities include: • the UAF – receives and analyses suspicious trans - action reports; • the Superintendence of Banks – supervises finan - cial institutions;
• the Attorney General’s Office – leads criminal investigations; and • the National Commission Against Money Launder - ing – the national commission for AML strategy. Circumstances for liability include: • failure to report suspicious activity; • lack of due diligence or know-your-customer (KYC) procedures; and • obstruction of inspections or audits. Penalties include: • financial sanctions – fines of up to PAB1 million; • criminal penalties – imprisonment for responsible individuals; • administrative actions – licence suspension, public reprimand; and • monitoring – enhanced supervision and audits. 3.14 ESG-Related Offences Panama does not currently have a comprehensive legal framework that criminalises ESG-related mis - conduct (such as environmental pollution, human rights violations or modern slavery) under a unified ESG law. However, specific environmental, labour and social laws do exist and can lead to administrative, civil and criminal sanctions depending on the nature and severity of the violation. Environmental Offences Under Law 41 of 2004 (the General Environmental Law), companies are required to conduct Environmen - tal Impact Assessments (EIAs), obtain environmental permits, and manage waste and emissions responsi - bly. Violations – such as unauthorised emissions, ille - gal waste disposal or operating without permits – can result in: • fines (amounts vary depending on severity and recurrence); • suspension of operations; • revocation of permits; and • criminal liability in cases of environmental harm to protected areas or ecosystems.
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