Metro boss bribery report spurs action call

Statements by a former Odebrecht executive alleging that the director of the Panama Metro, was bribed.  has civil society demanding speedy court action in an appeal against a ruling which has blocked continued investigation of the Odebrecht scandal.

the Second Court of Justice must decide whether the deadline for investigation by Special Anticorruption Prosecutors following the trail of bribes paid by Odebrecht in Panama should be extended. It has been paralyzed since October 25, after a ruling of Court XII.

The call for speedy action comes after revelations by Rodrigo Tacla Durán, to Spanish prosecutors that Metro Director and Canal Minister   Roberto Roy was bribed by FCC, a partner of Odebrecht during construction of  Metro lines 1 and 2.

“All these new statements and disclosures prove that the terms of investigation have to be adequate, “said Olga de Obaldía, executive director of the Foundation for the Development of Citizen Freedom, the Panama arm of Transparency International.

“The MP requires longer time and even more resources to clarify the facts, something. We are facing a level of complexity and sophistication that requires that the law against organized crime be applied, ” she said, and warned of the “deep crisis of confidence” that the citizens have with the Judicial Organ … the Second Tribunal must act independently and with promptness to solve this case.”

Annette Planells, of the Independent Movement, (MOVIN) said that this scenario gives  “more weight to the importance of the ruling “that must be issued by the Second Court.”

On February 13, Tacla Durán said that Roy got money from FCC Construcciones, partner of Odebrecht.

The Public Ministry said the declaration of Tacla Durán was received on November 1, after Judge Lania Batista stopped the investigation of the Odebrecht case and ordered the file to be sent to the Criminal Court XII.  Prosecutor Zuleyka Moore, , appealed the ruling.

Former Comptroller Alvin Weeden told La Prensa that the case of FCC and other construction companies that served Odebrecht is new and, in his opinion, this forces the MP to investigate it in new summaries.

“I, in fact, formulated a criminal complaint against an Odebrecht subcontractor who gave bribes to a relative of a high official for more than $2 million. In Spain, FCC is investigated and that is why they interrogated Tacla Durán, “he said.

Annette Planells, leader of the Independent Movement (Movin)  said that the Tacla Durán statements must be investigated since they were exposed before a prosecutor’s office. “This, , adds a lot more weight to the statements given by Tacla Durán to the newspaper El País [July 2017]. in an interview with El País, Tacla Durán also linked president, Juan Carlos Varela, with the plot.

According to Planells, with  these new revelations, Roy must separate from the direction of the Metro until he is investigated.”