Attorney General asks judiciary to get cracking

PANAMA’S Attorney General Kenia Porcell has tried to light a fire under  the judiciary and banks to enable prosecutors to move forward with  investigations  into 36 suspects in the Odebrecht  bribery scandal.

At a Wednesday, May 31 press conference she  called  on the judiciary to advance the cases involving the construction company

The future of the investigations depends on the Judicial Branch’s action, which to date involves 36 people: 22 Panamanians, 13 Brazilians and 1 American.

“It is important that these actions be resolved so that the Public Prosecutor’s Office can continue with its investigations,” Porcell said.

She was accompanied by Rolando Rodríguez and David Díaz, secretary and deputy secretary, respectively, of

the Attorney General’s Office.

Porcell said there are two constitutional guarantees and six habeas corpus petitions that are  before the courts and are unresolved.” She said.

“I simply ask that every institution follows the law and assumes its role.”

She also  demanded that banking entities attend “as soon as possible” the requests for information that are part of the investigation.

“Those who committed a crime of corruption or money laundering knows what they did,” she warned.

So far, $56 million has been apprehended: $22 million in accounts in Switzerland, $12.8 million in Andorra and $13.9 million in local banks, as well as $8 million in property that includes a helicopter and an apartment in Madrid. The last two are assets seized from brothers Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique  Martinelli  Linares, the two sons  of former  president Ricardo Martinelli, reports La Prensa.

Porcell reported that the investigations cover Odebrecht contracts awarded in the last three presidential administrations. Some of the works have already been audited by the Comptroller General, showing hundreds of millions in cost overruns .