TE asked for records of Odebrecht political donations

HERIBERTO ARÚZ, had his first major challenge as  the newly elected president of the  Electoral  Tribunal (TE), on Tuesday Dec.3 when The Independent Movement (Movin)  asked the body    to publish the records of donations made  by Odebrecht Panama to political campaigns from  2004 until now  .

Movin says  that its request is based on the

recent confession of Odebrecht executives to the

Prosecutor’s office in New York, of the payment of  $59 million in bribes to Panamanian officials.

“It should be borne in mind that according to statements made by Judge Erasmo Pinilla in social media the sum contributed by private donors during the last elections reached $59.2 million Movin recalled that on that occasion the ex-TE president Pinilla reported that the campaign

‘United for more changes’, made up of the Democratic Change party (CD) and the Movement

Liberal Republican Nationalist Party (Molirena) received $34.7 million in private donations.

Meanwhile, the campaign of Juan Carlos Navarro,

(PRD), received $12.1 million in donations, while the “First People’s Alliance”, of  Juan Carlos Varela, of the  Panamenista  Party and Popular Party, received $10 million in private donations.

Citizens have the right to know if there is some relationship between donations made in election campaigns and the subsequent allocation of State infrastructure projects” a letter to the TE  said.

Odebrecht pleaded guilty to a complaint lodged by the Office of the Federal Prosecutor in The East District Court of New York, for conspiracy to violate provisions against the Bribery and  Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In exchange for paying bribes to Panamanian officials and their Intermediaries, Odebrecht was guaranteed contracts with profits around  $175 million.