Panama opens investigation of Odebrecht

AS LINKS between the Odebrecht scandal in Brazil and Panama become clearer, Attorney General Kenia Porcell launched an investigation into the local Norberto Odebrecht operation.

A former executive of Petrobras Engineering Services Peter Barrusco Filho told the Federal Police of Brazil that Odebrecht paid nearly $1 million in bribes through Constructora South, registered in the Public Registry of Panama in 2006. The prosecution has nine documents on transfers to a bank account Credicorp Bank Panama, between April and September 2009.
Public Ministry sources told La Prensa the investigation began On Tuesday , June 23, after the delivery of a letter from a citizen to Porcell’s office following the publication of reports of the arrest of Marcelo Odebrecht, president of the country’s biggest company with an annual turnover of $40 billion.
The Brazilian company is being investigated for alleged corruption.
The Panama research will be headed by an anti-corruption prosecutor, a judicial source told La Prensa.
The Foundation for the Development of Civic Freedom, the Panamanian chapter of Transparency International, confirmed that thie institution delivered on a letter to the Public Ministry on March 17 calling for an investigation into Odebrecht, taking into account that various media in Brazil indicated that the authorities there were investigating the company and its activities in Panama.
A former executive of Petrobras Engineering Services Peter Barrusco Filho told the Federal Police of Brazil that Odebrecht paid nearly $1 million in bribes through Constructora South, registered in the Public Registry of Panama in 2006. The prosecution has nine documents on transfers to a bank account Credicorp Bank Panama, between April and September 2009.
On Monday June 23 the Department of International Affairs of the Public Ministry, received a request for judicial assistance from the Brazilian authorities to help them to investigate the activities of Odebrecht in Panama.
According to information disclosed by the Brazilian authorities numbered accounts in Panama were used to allegedly deposit millions of dollars in bribes to managers of Petrobras, the state owned oil company.