A tangled web of family dividends at Tocumen

Investigations of the purchase of $60 million in dehydrated food made by the National Assistance Program (PAN) under the command of Giacomo Tamburrelli have revealed that the businessman Javier Pariente -considered the architect of that business- also obtained economic benefits from concessions at the Tocumen airport.

La Prensa had access to copies of checks issued by his brother in law -Peter Martez- in concept of “dividends” by a grant awarded without tender by the government of Ricardo Martinelli to sell fast food and drinks at the airport.
In addition -according to Martez -two siblings of former President Martinelli -Mario and Irma Martinelli- also received “dividends” by checks endorsed to their banks accounts.
Each of them received, according to the documentation, a check for $10,000 on March 30, 2011; two days after Pariente’s brother in law deposited in his account two checks for $40,000 from the company Travel Services Pro, S.A, which Pariente denied having ties with in 2012.
These transactions alerted Banco Panamá, where Martez had his account, as he had sworn that he would only deposit his doctor’s income in the account.
Bank officials reported that at the time of questioning Martez was nervous. He stated that these checks corresponded to the payment of “dividends” from businesses with other shareholders.
Irma Martinelli said Tuesday that Pariente proposed that she should invest in that business, but it was “unsuccessful”. “I do not know Martez and I don’t know why he stated that he was paying dividends,” she said. Her brother Mario Martinelli gave the same version, but identified Martez as the owner of the concession The bank closed his account.
“I have nothing to do with Pro Travel Services, S.A [which has a concession to sell ‘pizzas’ in Tocumen airport], not as an administrator nor a director nor shareholder. Yes it was my understanding that a brother of my wife is the director I am not aware of his practices”.
That was the answer that Pariente gave in July 2012 as a reaction to an investigation by La Prensa that revealed that this company -in which his brother in law (Peter Martez) and his former secretary in the Company of Power Distribution Ensa, Zelideth Tello are included – was favored in the government of Ricardo Martinelli with a direct concession to sell fast food and drinks at the airport.
By then the legitimacy of this concession was questioned, given the relationship between Pariente and former President Martinelli: They had a working relationship (in Super 99), and commercially through multiple corporations.
Three years later, the proof confirms that Pariente lied. and is the midst of the investigation into the scandal of the purchase of the dehydrated food -for $60 million made by the [now]National Assistance Program t (PAN) – it was discovered that his brother in law paid him “dividends” from the concession that Travel Services Pro, S.A had at Tocumen airport.
Travel Services Pro, S.A, issued two checks of $20,000 each to Martez’s personal bank account.
Two days later, on March 30, 2011, Martez issued three checks from his account in Banco Panama for $10,000 each, one for Pariente, one for Irma Martinelli and the last to Mario Martinelli.
This operation cost Martez the closing of his account in Banco Panama, since the amounts “declared exceeded the profile”.
Travel Services Pro, S.A, was constituted on October 17, 2010 by an act that formalized Mariel Jované, lawyer at Ensa where Pariente was working at that time.
Pariente is also directly linked with other companies that billed millions of dollars in Tocumen airport during Martinelli’s government.
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