President bends to pressure over bribery
PRESIDENT Juan Carlos Varela, under the gun from civil and business groups over Panama’s foot dragging in the Oderbrecht bribery scandal said Monday. Jan 23, that the ministers of state will file a complaint against Odebrecht for $59 million in bribes paid to Panamanian officials between 2009 and 2014.
A few days earlier the ministers had attacked the Independent movement (Movin) for making the scandal a media issue by calling for action and the release of names of high ranking officials under investigation.
Varela said that the issue will be discussed at the Cabinet Council Tuesday.
“We are in favor of the measure, after we were given information that, in order to recover property, Panama has to, in one way or another, also file a complaint,” he said.
The criminal action will be based on documents released a month ago by the U.S. Department of Justice in which the Brazilian company acknowledged the payment of bribes.
In total, Odebrecht admitted paying $788 million in bribes to officials from several countries, including Panama.
Last week, Administration Attorney Rigoberto González sent notes to ministers Ramón Arosemena (Public Works) and Mario Etchelecu (Housing), and to Metro Director Roberto Roy asking them to file a complaint in the Odebrecht case. Those ministries and department all had major contracts with Odebrecht.
Of the $22 million in Swiss bank accounts in the names of Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares sons of former president Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal that have been frozen, Varela said: “It is clear that the Public Ministry is doing its job. It is a question of respecting the processes, we must support the Public Ministry.”
Panama was notified of the seizure inFeb. 2016.
The two children of the former president have been formally charged by Swiss federal prosecutors for bribery of foreign officials and money laundering.
