Canal contractor named in Italy-Panama bribery allegations

THE FORMER, Technical Director of Impregilo in Panama, one of the partners in the Canal expansion project told Italian judges that the company paid Valter Lavitola $70,000 for bribes and luxury trips for Panamanian officials.

Luciano Reguzzo who  was  in Panama from 2007 to 2012 , told Naples judges, – Vincenzo Piscitelli and Henry John Woodcock , that the $70,00 was " hidden away out of the ordinary accounting " 

The money was to corrupt employees durig a visit to Panama of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in June 2010 , and to pay for luxury holidays in Sardinia for President, Ricardo Martinelli , and some officials of his government, in the summer of 2011, reports La Prensa.
Lavitola already sentenced on corruption charges, is now in court with Berlusconi, on charges related to “buying” Italian senators to switch parties was the fixer between Italian businesses and the Panamanian government.

He fled Panama for Argentina after his cell phone conversations were recorded, and finally returned to Italy to surrender the police.
From new revelations the investigation into the alleged extortion of Impregilo to build a pediatric hospital in Veraguas takes a turn to the role of Lavitola between the Italian company and the Panamanian leader.
According to the file, which La Prensa, had access Lavítola pressured Impregilo to regain relationships with Martinelli:"very angry and frustrated over the construction of the pediatric hospital (… ) and the problems in the construction of the Panama Canal " .
Asked about the relationship between Lavítola defined by the judges as "the collector of bribes” and Rogelio Oruna , "front man and hidden partner of Martinelli in various real estate companies,”Reguzzo said they met in 2011 at a meeting organized by the ruling Panama administration
In addition, the Impregilo official told judges that economic financing of the hospital was actually “a hidden and indirect way “to offer bribes to Martinelli as "undue economic profit " – through Oruna .
A telephone interception in August 2011 between Oruna , "close to the President of Panama" who deviated bribes through their companies" and Lavítola, midway between Italy and Panama , reveals that Martinelli was willing to defame Impregilo if no move was  made for the pediatric hospital in Veraguas.
Lavítola told Oruna that the President of Panama had falsely declared that the Italian company was not giving “full reliability to the Canal.”
In addition, Martinelli was quoted as saying that “there was a cement problem " and was " checking " if Impregilo was " up to finish the job ," according to the documents consulted by La Prensa.
During the long conversation, Lavítola advised Oruna to seek hospital financing from other companies. "You move, but do not say anything to Ricardo.”
Ponzellini Massimo , president of Impregilo said that in July 27, 2012 after having refused to pay bribes to Martinelli for working on Panama Metro, promised the construction of the pediatric hospital if he won the contract.
Although Impregilo did not benefitfrom the tender, Lavítola continued pressures on the Italian company threatening that Martinelli "would retaliate”.
According wiretapping in early August 2011, between the CEO of Impregilo , Alberto Rubegni , and the president of the Italian company Ponzellin , the Italian construction industry bid for the subway contract with a bid of $800 million , but eventually it went to Line 1 consortium , formed by the FCC of Spain builders, and Odebrecht , Brazil , for a thousand $1,880 billion, sparking the wrath of their leaders.
Impregilo has had a tragic end in their dealings with Panama says La Prensa
First, it ran out of the bidding for the construction of the Metro After this bitter pill, the old gambler of Italian politics , Silvio Berlusconi, warned the then president of Impregilo , Massimo Ponzellini , that “I had to get " an agreement with Panama on the hospital, or Martinelli would begin to cancel contracts " . The threats were fulfilled with the cancellation of a copper mine project.
The latest misfortune of Impregilo in Panama has been the rejection of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP ) of the agreement submitted by the consortium led by the Spanish Sacyr and Impregilo . to continue the redevelopment of the Panama Canal .