Corruption plagued Odebrecht gets new Panama contract

WHILE still in the midst of an international corruption scandal whose tentacles have spread to Panama, the Brazilian Construction giant,Noberto Odebrecht again scooped up another major government project, even though,  its bid was the highest.
Nuevo Colón consortium-made up of the Panamanian Cusa and Odebrecht on Friday, June 26, 2015, won the Colon urban renewal project for an estimated $500 million.
The announcement cameas Brazilian authorities have requested legal assistance from Panama to investigate Odebrech, t,and the Comptroller is auditing the Metro Line 1 contract
Nuevo Colón scored 958 points -of 1,000- while the Aspinwall consortium got 913. The winning consortium bid $537 million, while Aspinwall bid $505 million.
At today’s event, held on the Atlantic coast, the CCA-MCM consortium was disqualified after failing to comply with technical and financial aspects.
The Minister of Housing,(Miviot) Mario Etchelecu, said that while Nuevo Colon submitted the most expensive bid, it won on technical aspects.
He added that there will be a delay in signing the contract in case the losing consortium submits an objection.
Miviot data for the renewal of Colon involves the construction of 5000 homes in the community of Alto de los Lagos, installing a storm system, creating parks, drinking water adjustments and reconstruction of historic heritage buildings ,” reports La Prensa.
Odebrecht is, under international scrutiny after its president Marcelo Odebrecht was arrested last Friday on charges of leading a scheme of kickbacks and bribes to obtain multimillion-dollar businesses in Brazil and other countries.
On this point, the Minister of Housing said that if they [Odebrecht] have done something wrong then they have to defend themselves. “I’m not defending anyone”