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.
