Civil society awaits names of bribery suspects

EXPECTATIONS are running high that today (Thursday, November 9),  the demands of civil society will be met and the names of the 63 Panama high rollers who received at least $59 million in bribes from Odebrecht in the Martinelli era will be revealed.

The names should be disclosed by three Odebrecht executives via Skype to a hearing at the Panama Supreme Court when the terms of the agreement between the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) and the Odebrecht company get judicial approval. The meeting is being held   in the Cassation Hall of the Gil Ponce Palace of Justice with a limited audience including journalists, and  representatives of Civil society

It is expected that the three ex-directors of the Brazilian construction company, with whom the agreement was signed,  will speak on Skype. They are: Fernando Migliaccio da Silva, Olivo Rodrigues Junior and André Rabello, the latter was the manager of Odebrecht in Panama.

The leader of the Independent Movement (Movin), Annette Planells, said that all are fixated on knowing what agreements were reached with the Odebrecht executives and, most importantly, knowing which Panamanian businessmen, politicians, officials or lawyers, were involved in the bribery scheme.

Right to know
“We are going to demand that the judge declare the accusations public. Panamanians have the right to know the truth and know what they did with the money of all of us,” said Planells.

President  Juan Carlos Varela said that the most important thing for the country is that “the stolen heritage is recovered, the whole truth is known and, above all, that a similar case does not happen again.”

What is expected with the hearing is that the judge validates the agreements, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure,  but there is the possibility that the Supreme Court of Justice denies endorsement reports El Siglo

It may also be denied if the 12th judge, in charge of the hearing, considers that there was ignorance of fundamental rights or guarantees or when there are indications of corruption or bribes during the agreement.

The Public Ministry has compiled 364 volumes in the Odebrecht case.

63 people have been imputed in the process, among whom there are five former ministers of the cabinet of Ricardo Martinelli. His two sons have also been named, and Swiss authorities have frozen $22 million in bank accounts linked to them.