$31 million add-on for bribery linked group

An addendum of $30.8 million added to the contract signed between Constructora Meco, S.A. and the Ministry f Public Works (MOP) has been by  PanamasComptroller General.

Thw add-on following increments for the completion of Terminal 2 by Odebrecht and an anticipated surge in the cost of completing Metro line 2, another Odebrecht project is raising concerns about the government’s lack of independent experts to analyze construction costs.

The  Meco project is the design, construction, rehabilitation, and widening of the Pedregal-Gonzalillo-Transístmica highway.

The MOP had calculated a fixed cost for the payment of   a bondof $3 million and now an increase to $ 30.8 million, because the amount was “Insufficient”, according to the addendum.

The difference, 10 times higher, is because, according to the MOP, once the technical staff of carried out the analysis and study, it was concluded that more will be required

Meco and other construction contractors of the State -among the GS Corporate Group,

Bagatrac, Rodsa, Conalvías, Concepto y Espacios, and Ingeniería REC- would have rotated in the past administration about $40 million in bribes to MOP officials in exchange for streamlined procedures and disbursements in public infrastructure projects, according to research into the Blue Apple scandal by the Public Ministry.