Martinelli sons fingered in Oderbrecht bribery scandal

THE TWO SONS  of Panama’s  former president, Ricardo Martinelli have been named as the alleged recipients of $6 million bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

The US Department of Justice reported this week that Odebrecht paid bribes to “two close relatives” of a senior government official in Panama in exchange for public contracts. Now, the alleged identity of those recipients has been made public reports La Prensa.

The Brazilian newspaper Estadao cites former Odebrecht employee Luiz Eduardo Soarez as telling prosecutors that the recipients of the bribes were two children of Martinelli, Ricardo and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares.

Both sons, and their father have fled Panama.

According to the records of the Eastern District Court of New York, released by the US Department of Justice, the payment to the relatives was $6 million.

In total, Odebrecht ­ according to the documents of the US authorities ­ has admitted to paying $59 million in bribes in Panama between 2010 and 2014 in exchange for contracts with the state.

The daily Estadao reports that it was unable to locate Martinelli’s lawyers for a reaction from the former president.

Odebrecht’s Structured Operations Division, which functioned as the office where the firm’s bribes were processed, made payments to Panamanian officials using accounts on behalf of offshore companies at foreign banks.

Soarez told prosecutors that payments were made following instructions from Odebrecht’s former director in Panama, André Rabello.

Brazilian prosecutors have tried to obtain information from an account in the name of Constructura Internacional del Sur, through requests to Panama’s Attorney General  Public Prosecutor which have not been answered