President seeks mea culpa from evil souls

A report issued  by the  Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica that sold $250 million, of equipment  to Panama attests to the "regularity and transparency" of the transaction.

It was for six helicopters, 19 radar  installations and a digital map. for about

On Monday. January 23, President, Ricardo Martinelli, announced the arrival of the report, and criticized those who have questioned the transaction.

"May all the evil and wicked souls that all they want is bad for Panama, reflect and recognize that they know they made a mistake," he said before disclosing the contents of the report.

However the report does not mention that Finmeccanica is under investigation after the discovery of a "black bottom" slush fund fueled by alleged cost overruns, used to bribe politicians and officials from countries with which the business group did business.

The investigation has resulted in the resignation of a number of directors of the group, while others have been arrested.

In December, La Prensa published  direct knowledge that the Naples, Italy prosecutor’s  offce of Naples was also carrying out an investigation involving the former Finmeccanica  consultant and a key figure in the consultancy process with Panama, Valter Lavítola. The investigation is into alleged corruption involving international and Panamanian officials yet to be identified, says La Prensa.

A presidency statement said "Finmeccanica denies the Panamanian opponents who  indicated that Panama had paid surcharges to compare with the Panamanian purchases of Yemen and Turkey ".

It adds that the "the equipment fully corresponds to the requirements of the Panamanian Government and their prices are right”