Anti-corruption prosecutor examines Portobello scandal

ANTI CORRUPTION prosecutors have joined with Panama’s Ministry of Economy and Finance in investigating events in Portobelo that have led to alleged death threats, the local mayor getting cash and checks from a contractor he hired after a national disaster and $150 million of bouncing municipality checks.

The company A2Z Strategy Construction Panama – which the municipality of Portobelo hired in 2012 to do projects valued at $150 million dollars – paid Mayor Carlos Chavarría in cash and checks for operating expenses reports  La Prensa.
The mayor was designated as a support volunteer, and was placed on the payroll once the company signed contracts during the “national emergency” that was declared in the area due to heavy storm damage.
The company, represented by the Spanish businessman Salvador Trigueros, was obliged to pay some $3 million in local taxes. However, that amount did not reach the coffers of the municipality.
Mayor Chavarría said that he accepted the support of the company in “good faith” because the municipality was going through a financial crisis, given that in 2012 it received no government subsidies.
The economic crisis worsened with the wage adjustments to public servants announced in 2010 by the government of President Ricardo Martinelli. The company was also issued 16 checks that bounced due to insufficient funds. The company sent a letter to the Embassy of Spain in Panama alleging lack of legal security in Panama.
In the letter, Trigueros tells of how he was stripped of 60 percent of the shares of A2Z by businessman David Virzi, who has close connections to Ricardo Martinelli, something that Virzi has categorically rejected. Earlier reports alleged that Martinelli had told the mayor that unless he joined the CD party, he could not expect help.
Triguero said that he has received deaths threats.
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