Ex minister facing complaint over $63 million anomaly

FORMER MINISTER of Public Works. Federico José Suárez, is facing a criminal complaint  for offences against public administration.

Lawyer Francisco Zappi  filed the complaint, blaming Suarez for anomalies in the project to rehabilitate and widen the Arraiján-La Chorrera highway, which was awarded during the government of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) to the construction company TCT, the company whose workers blocked deliveries of La Prensa after the publication of stories about the company’s activities.

According to a report prepared by the National Assembly Committee on Public Infrastructure, the work had cost overruns of $63 million.

The work was supposed to cost $152.6 million when the contract was awarded in 2010. Subsequently, in 2013, Jaime Ford – who replaced Suárez – agreed to an addendum which raised the amount to $161.8 million.

The report calculated that the actual cost was $98.8 million.

“All the facts described [in the report], in our humble opinion, constitute evidence that there has been a serious financial injury against the Panamanian state,” said Zappi in his complaint, filed in the Public Prosecutor’s Office on Monday August 14.