Varela facing Odebrecht donation questions

WHILE President Juan Carlos Varela is basking in the afterglow of his trade mission to China, Civil groups and other apart from Martinelli controlled Panama America, are questioning  his party’s role in the Odebrecht scandal,

The Independent Movement (Movin), which played a prominent role in Varela’s election has harshly questioned the Panameñista Party over the “donations” that he would have received from the Odebrecht company in the  2009 campaign through a friend.

According to Movin, so far “the Party Panameñista has offered few and unconvincing explanations about the meaning and scope of monies that today we know were received by the party and some of its representatives. “

“It is imperative that after the judicial investigation process, we have the firm conviction that nobody escaped by a political or economic shield, ” it said.

According to Movin, “it is clear that the penetration” of the political class through “donations” to candidates with more options, to “win a favor” is one of the characteristics of “the web of public corruption” that has hit Panamanian democracy

.The former ambassador of Panama in South Korea, Jaime Lasso Del Castillo, confirmed – in an investigation conducted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office on September 4, that he received money from André Rabello, representative of Odebrecht in Panama, for the electoral campaign of the Panameñista Party in the year 2009.

At the end of October, the Panameñista Party issued a statement in which it tried to distance itself from the reports.

On November 9, Varela said that in his campaign as vice president in 2009, he received help from a person linked to Odebrecht, at a time when the Brazilian construction company

was not questioned on any irregular issue. “Those donations were reported to Electoral Tribunal, “he argued.