819.51/180
The Minister in Panama (Price) to
the Secretary of State
[Extract]
Panama, December 2,
1918.
[Received December
27.]
No. 2198
Sir: Continuing my reports upon the matter of
Fiscal Reform for Panama and the Bill pending in the National Assembly
to provide for an American Fiscal Agent, I have the honor to enclose … a
printed copy of the Bill as introduced in the National Assembly, …
. . . . . . .
I have [etc.]
[Page 686]
[Enclosure—Translation12]
Fiscal Reform Bill Pending in the National
Assembly of Panama13
The National Assembly of
Panama
Decrees:
- Article 1. The Executive Power is
hereby authorized to appoint a Fiscal Agent in the Republic, or
to engage his services; the appointee may be either a national
or a foreigner, who must be skilled in financial matters and in
public bookkeeping. The Executive Power shall ask the good
offices of the Government of the United States in securing a
candidate for the post.
- The Fiscal Agent will be under the direct orders of the
President of the Republic.
- Article 2. The Fiscal Agent will
have an assistant who may not be a Panamanian and who will also
be appointed by the President of the Republic. The assistant
will take the place of the Fiscal Agent in cases of absence or
temporary incapacity, and will have other functions and duties
which the Fiscal Agent may delegate to him not contradictory to
the provisions of this law.
- Article 3. The Executive Power is
hereby authorized to appoint the auxiliary personnel which he
may deem necessary to help the Fiscal Agent in the discharge of
his duties.
- Article 4. The Fiscal Agent within
the least possible time, will present to the Executive Power a
detailed report on the financial conditions of the Republic, in
which will be stated the internal and external debt and the
actual revenues and their source. The Fiscal Agent will also
help the Secretary of the Treasury in drafting the Budget and
the fiscal laws that are to be submitted to the National
Assembly.
- Article 5. It shall be the duty of
the Fiscal Agent to give to the Executive Power, when deemed
necessary, information on the measures which should be adopted
to increase the revenues and diminish the expenditures of the
Treasury; on the manner in which the public funds should be kept
and managed in order that the state of the Treasury may be known
at any moment and to prevent the expenses from exceeding the
income.
- Article 6. The Fiscal Agent has the
high inspection of the accounting system in the Republic and
will see that the laws and the regulations that the Executive
may give on the subject are complied with. It will be his duty
also to examine all the accounts and claims of any nature from
the different Departments and lower offices, taking into
consideration the necessary data for the verification and
adjustment of same, and to certify the balances for their
remittances to the Department of the Treasury. Furthermore the
Fiscal Agent will keep the records of all the bills and their
vouchers, legalize according to the law the orders of payment
issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, and discharge all the
other duties that the laws and regulations may disclose to
him.
- Article 7. The Fiscal Agent is
hereby authorized to reject any bill or claim against the
Treasury, whenever the disbursement has not been duly authorized
by law or because the prices of the articles to which the bill
refers, or the claim, may not be the same as those on the
market, or for any other reason that finds force in the law or
regulations.
- Article 8. The appeals against the
decisions of the Fiscal Agent relative to the application or
interpretation of the laws and fiscal regulations shall be taken
to the Supreme Court of Justice within the period of ninety
days, counting from the date when the interested party is
notified of the decision. The appeal in these cases will be in
conformity with the procedure which the Executive Power may
establish. If the interested party does not make his appeal
within the designated period, the decision of the Fiscal Agent
will be definitive and obligatory for the interested parties and
the authorities. And in case of appeal the decision of the
Supreme Court of Justice will be definitive and
obligatory.
- Article 9. Once the Fiscal Agent
considers that the system of accounts which this law provides
are sufficiently efficient to no longer necessitate the services
of the Auditor General, the Fiscal Inspector, the Judge of
Accounts, and the Court of Appeals, the Executive Power will
abolish these employments, and the business that may remain
pending in all or any of the offices mentioned will continue
under the jurisdiction of the Fiscal Agent in order that he may
dispose of them in accordance with the provisions of this law
and the expediting decrees and regulations.
- Article 10. The Fiscal Agent, his
assistant, and the other inferior employees to whom this law
refers, will have the salaries that the Executive Power will
assign to them.
- Article 11. The provisions of this
law are extended, in so far as they may be applicable, to the
revenues and expenses of the municipalities.
- Article 12. All laws and regulations
contrary to the present law are hereby repealed.
- Article 13. This law will be in
force thirty days after its promulgation.
