Former Panama minister got $4 million bribe – witness

A FORMER Minister of the Presidency during the Martinelli  administration  is the latest high profile character to be fingered  in the Odebrecht bribery scandal.

Demetrius “Jimmy” Papadimitriu, previously  believed to be “outside the corruption plot” according to La Prensa,

has been named  in testimonies in Brazil  of Luiz Antonio Mameri, formerly  executive in charge of Odebrecht in

Latin America and Angola.

According to Mameri, he personally approved the payment of about $4 million to Papadimitriu after a request from Odbrecht’s Panama director, André Campos Rabello.

The testimonies were made to  prosecutors in Brazil investigating the Lavo Jato btibery scandal.

The testimony of Mameri coincides with confessions of  another Odebrecht executive, Luiz Eduardo Soares, who worked in the Operations Sector to pay bribes outside of Brazil.

The  informant  has confessed that payments were made to one of the children of former President Ricardo Martinelli, through foreign companies and banks.

“Soares reported that payments were also made  that benefited a minister of state,” revealed Brazilian newspaper Estado de S. Paulo, at the end of December last year.

La Prensa contacted  former Minister Papadimitriu, who  “categorically denied” having received a penny  from Odebrecht.