Corruption probe nets six more as details unfold

ANTI-CORRUPTION prosecutors have called in for questioning another six people linked to fraud through the National Assistance Program (PAN ) whose former director Rafael Guardia Jaen remains in custody, charged with embezzlement.

The record of alleged thefts from the public purse, an published in La Prensa, read like an extract from Ali Baba and the 40 thieves.
The first Anticorruption prosecutor Nahaniel Murga, revealed Thursday, Nov 20 that six people linked to alleged embezzlement of $ 1.7 million in the purchase of rice, lentils and beans for inaccessible schools will be questioned at his office.
Manuel Ríos Correa, Moisés Antonio Paz, Desirée Aranda González, Pablo Andrés Luis Obregón, Praxedis Prenda Pinzón y Mara Del Carmen Vergara mentioned in the complaint for alleged embezzlement in the PAN
Those involved will be investigated for corruption of public officials reports LA Prensa.
In the coming days others named in a complaint recently presented by the current head of the PAN, Rafael Stanziola, will also be investigated.
According to the report, Guardia Jaen bought sacks of rice at $80 when the price in February 2014 was $49. He bought 100-pound bags of lentils at $110, when the market price was $55 and acquired a quintal of beans at $100, when the price was $ 76.
Balanced Investment Group Inc., whose legal representative is Mangravita Aldo Fernandez-Miranda, was awarded the purchase, for $4.8 million. The same company also provided furniture for $992,151, with funds for the redevelopment of the PAN office of former director of the Financial Analysis Unit (UAF) Emma Reyes, who is also under investigation.
Two contracts for the distribution of rice and beans to inaccessible schools in areas of extreme poverty and vulnerability,awarded to the Arquitectonika Group SA will also be reviewed, This program was implemented by the Ministry of Education, then headed by Lucy Molinar.
Arquitectonika Group, SA, was established on April 29, 2010, and its president is Dolande Diego De Ycaza. The last contract endorsed tto his company was held on June 19, 2014, and in the amount of $483,000.
BANK ACCOUNTS
Meanwhile, a new account in the amount of $550,000 related to Guardia Jaen has been seized by the anti-corruption prosecutors.
The account was in the name of Kalua, SA, whose president is Javier Cachafeiro Richa, a personal friend of the son of the former head of the PAN, Rafael Guardia.
Cachafeiro Richa who also worked at the National Mortgage Bank (BHN) appears as signatory on another account in the same name at Banesco for $1.5million which has also been seized.
Prosecutors will continue to track because Cachafeiro Richa is also listed as company secretary of Brescia Tre, SA, which owns the yacht “Boombastic” I seized on Wednesday at Flamenco Island on the Amador Causeway.
This yacht is valued at $ 400,000 and was registered with the Directorate General of Merchant Marine of Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) on July 18, 2014 by Arturo Del Cid Rodrigo Nunez.
Accounts and term deposits of companies linked to preliminary protective Guardia Jaén so far total$9 million.
Several other suppliers to the PAN during the administrationsof Giacomo Tamburrelli and Guardia Jaén, were identified by a witness who, on Monday, told Telemetro that ex-officials of the agency bribes were paid bribes of 10% or 15%, in advance of contracts being awarded.
The witness confirmed details to the First Anticorruption Prosecutor in a session lasting almost 5 hours.
The informant said that the money was sent to Adolfo Chichi De Obarrio in the President’s office who was responsible for receiving cash and distributing it, including a “bribe” for Guardia Jaen, and the rest for “them “.
Chichi De Obarrio told La Prensa that the complaint was a “disgrace” and that could have been caused by his closeness to Martinelli, because decisions communicated to subordinates generated “conflict situations”.
The Anti-corruption prosecutors are analyzing the cashier’s checks that were deposited into bank accounts of corporations related Guardia Jaen. A judicial source said that it is possible that the analysis would bring to light checks rotated by supplier companies to PAN
SCHOOL BAGS
The PAN also bought school bags during Tamburrelli’s reign for $1.6 million, plus $792,000 for items like pencils and notebooks
One of the companies favored in that business at the beginning of the Martinelli government was YM- EM-SA, which is chaired by Felix Fernandez-Miranda and Secretary Michael David Goldstein.
At the time Fernandez-Miranda said “the price paid per pack [$2] is very good.” EM-Y-M-, S.A. invoiced in the PAN among contracts and purchase orders for multiple products-at least $5.7 million, according to documents of the Comptroller General.
For example on December 19, 2013, the comptroller, Gioconda Torres de Bianchini, endorsed a contract of nearly $1 million to provide toys for poor children nationwide.
Two years earlier, during the administration of Tamburrelli, 10,000 first aid kits worth $500,289 were purchased
A PAN source told La Prensa that Fernandez-Miranda, who could not be reached by the newspaper was always seen in the company of other institution entrepreneurs, two of them: Pablo Ruiz Obregón and Mangravita Aldo Fernandez-Miranda.
Another company in the eye of the storm is APM Supplies SA which between 2010 and 2011 sold the PAN $6 million dollars in school bags. This company operated from a boutique (DHD International Management Corp.), owned by Poulett Montero Morales.

Also under scrutiny are contracting services for the distribution of Christmas food bags.
Records of the Comptroller show that Rafael Jaen Guardia approved in 2013 a contract for more than $5 million to buy 110,000 bags for a Christmas dinner, the former first lady Marta Martinelli gave in all provinces and counties.
The company that benefited from this business was Hialing Corporation, SA, incorporated in August 2009 and linked to Ruiz Obregón.
PRIVATE ROAD – PUBLIC PURSE
The former director of PAN Giacomo Tamburrelli also has to answer to the Second Anti-Corruption Prosecutor for anomalies detected during his administration.

Prosecutor Lizette Chevalier is investigating a purchase contract for dehydrated meals valued at $44.9 million dollars. Tamburrelli awarded the contract to the company Lerkshore International Limited, whose president isRuben De Ycaza Lerkshore International Limited was registered in the Public Register on March 25, 2010 and is based in The British Virgin Islands
Arias. Interestingly, says La Prensa the reference price of the contract was $45 million, which caught the attention of Chevalier. “We’re talking about $ 45 million to be paid in one year,” the official told TVN. “They have found major irregularities,” she said. Chevalier said for that lucrative contract, there are several ways to pay and there are other possible involved. “We have almost all we need to summon the elements involved in this contract,” she said, while indicating that the subpoenas could be issued next week.
In 2011, the First Anticorruption Prosecutor opened an official investigation against Giacomo Tamburrelli for alleged mismanagement in his administration, between July 2009 and August 2012. The research is related to the construction of a dual sealed asphalt carriageway in the province Los Santos, which benefited only his father.