Government backs kickbacks probe
THE GROUNDSWELL of public outrage at the revelations of massive bribery of Panama’s governing elite by the Oderbrecht construction company during the Martinelli era continues to grow.
On Thursday Dec.22 the present government headed by President Juan Carlos Varela
reacted through a press release – a day after it became known known about the global agreement that the Brazilian company
agreed to pay a two- billion dollar fine, pleading guilty to a complaint lodged by the Office of the Federal Prosecutor in the Eastern District Court of New York (for conspiracy To violate anti-bribery provisions Of the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act.
This highlighted the massive payment of fines to foreign officials of at least 12 countries, including Panama as the recipient of some $59 million in coima (bribery payments).
The documents released Wednesday by the US Department of Justice show that, between 2009 and 2012, Odebrecht agreed to pay $6 million
to two close relatives of a senior Panamanian official in relation to Government infrastructure projects.
In this sense, “the Government of the Republic expresses its full support for the investigations carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and to punish the companies and people involved in these acts. ” says the release.
THE GROUNDSWELL of public outrage at the revelations of massive bribery of Panama’s governing elite by the Oderbrecht construction company during the Martinelli era continues to grow.
On Thursday Dec.22 the present government headed by President Juan Carlos Varela
reacted through a press release – a day after
it became known known about the global agreement that the Brazilian company
agreed to pay a billion dollar fine, pleading guilty to a complaint lodged by the Office of the Federal Prosecutor in the Eastern District Court of New York (for conspiracy To violate anti-bribery provisions Of the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act.
This highlighted the massive payment of fines to foreign officials of at least 12 countries, including Panama as the recipient of some $59 million in coima (bribery payments).
The documents released Wednesday by the US Department of Justice show that, between 2009 and 2012, Odebrecht agreed to pay $6 million
to two close relatives of a senior Panamanian official in relation to Government infrastructure projects.
In this sense, “the Government of the Republic expresses its full support for the investigations carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and to punish the companies and people involved in these acts. ” says the release.
