Government official linked to $675,000 hams deal

A senior government official has been linked to the sale of 30,000 hams costing $675,000 and distributed to voters in the constituency of National Assembly’s President. Chello Sergio Galvez.

The physical address and phone number of Provider Tachira, SA., listed in the documents submitted to the town council of El Chorrillo, correspond to a company identified with the name of No 1 Real Estate SA., says La Prensa.

The paper has published details of a web of companies, inter-connected by officers with close ties to the ruling coalition.
According to the Public Registry, the company's chairman is Camilo De La Guardia. But De La Guardia is not only an entrepreneur, says La Prensa, he is also an officer of the National Assembly chaired by government deputy Galvez, who last week handed the 30,000 hams to voters in his circuit.
De La Guardia is deputy director of Administration and Finance of the National Assembly, as recorded in the Transparency site updated to December 18. He earns a monthly salary of $3,500 and was appointed two months after Galvez  deputy for El Chorrillo was elected president of the Assembly (July 1).
Provider Tachira, SA, is the same supplier that on November12 also sold by direct contract 1,500 turkeys and 1,500 hams to the National Assembly to be distributed among its officials.
That is, says La Prensa, this company has done business in the amount of $ 770,000 under the administration of Gálvez.
La Prensa called No 1Real Estate SA to contact De La Guardia, and the receptionist said that the case of the hams would be handled by Ana Carrillo, who was not available. Two hours later, the receptionist said that no one by the name of Ana Carrillo worked there and hung up immediately.
Neither De La Guardia- ex member of the Panamenista Party or Gálvez answered calls from the newspaper.
In No 1. Real Estate SA Julio De La Guardia Arrocha appears as treasurer Arrocha – son of Camilo De La Guardia, appointed by President Ricardo Martinelli as Panama's ambassador to India. The diplomat left the ranks of the Panameñistas in December 2008 to join the ruling Democratic Change (CD) party to which Gálvez belongs.
De La Guardia Arrocha is also a director of companies along with Gabriel De Janon a Molirena-activist-as recorded in the Public Registry. For example, both are officers of the company in Brazil Carnes, SA incorporated on November 22, 2010.
No.1 Real Estate, SA President is Michelle Sáez War, daughter of Omar Montiel War, Tachira Provider representative, in the tender for 30,000 hams called by the Chorillo Community Board November 28. Montiel War, while selling the hams, was a member of the evaluation committee that gave its vote for the quality of the product offered [smoked pork picnic hams] offered by his company: Provider Tachira, SA
Lawyer Ernesto Cedeño, specialist in the field of public procurement, said on his Twitter account that "the manager of the community board that awarded the Chorrillo contract may be in trouble because it ignored points of Procurement Law 22".
According to the website of PanamáCompra , Provider Tachira, SA-intermediary in this business- bought hams from International Food Corporation, SA One of its subscribers is the lawyer Claudio Alvarez Lacayo, Molirena activist and former secretary general of the ruling group.
The International Food Corporation secretary Regulus Franceschi Fonseca,  is an ex Molirena director and current deputy head of Internal Audit of the National Institute of Professional Training for Development (Inadeh).