Two ex-ministers among11 facing highway scam trial

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has asked the Fifteenth Criminal Court to call to trial two former  Public Works (MOP) ministers the owners of a construction company and seven former officials of the MOP  and the Comptroller’s office all allegedly involved in a multi-million corruption scam.

Named are ex-ministers Federico Suárez and Jaime Ford, and brothers David and Daniel Ochy of Transcaribe Trading, S.A. (TCT), the company that once used its trucks and MOP equipment to block delivery of La Prensa. after the publication of an exposure story.

The prosecutor’s request follows after the culmination of the investigation for possible embezzlement in the widening and rehabilitation of the Arraiján-La Chorrera highway, which was by TCT  during the Martinelli administration.

In addition, the prosecution asked Judge Leslie Loaiza to open criminal proceedings against seven former officials of the MOP and the Comptroller General.

The Comptroller’s Office calculated $7.9 million possible patrimonial injury to the State in the payments made by the MOP to TCT for the work, which was tendered at $ 152.6 million and ended up costing cost of $161.8 million.

Suarez and Ford are prevented from leaving the country; Daniel Ochy is in preventive detention  and his brother has disappeared

In 2014  the Panamenista  deputy José Antonio Domínguez received a complaint from  an official of the (MOP) of possible irregularities in the price of the tender for the extension of the Arraiján-La Chorrera, highway by  (TCT) in the past government

According to the deputy, the official confessed that he was forced to change the price of the budget that he had estimated for the work when the  MOP was headed by of Federico Pepe Suárez.

Domínguez, then chair of the National Assembly  Public Infrastructure and Canal Affairs Committee, appointed a subcommittee to investigate possible irregularities

The subcommittee concluded that there was a possible overprice of $60 million in the expansion and anomalies in the work.

“The report was delivered to the MOP head, Ramón Arosemena, who promised to investigate the anomalies, but did not. and, he refused to present it to the Public Ministry so the lawyer Francisco Zappi filed the complaint that started the investigation,” said Dominguez at that time.

Arosemena responded that he had cooperated with all the documents required by the prosecution, among them, an audit report and anomalies detected in the widening of the road, reports La Prensa

It was not until August 18, 2017, when the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic calculated an audit report- that there was a possible injury to the State of $ 7,914, 068  for the payments made to TCT.