Plea deal by front man in Odebrecht bribery

Andrés Mozes Libedinsky fingered as the possible front man for Frank De Lima  Panama’s former Minister of Finance is negotiating an effective collaboration agreement with the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office in the Odebecht bribery scandal.

In the agreement between the public prosecutor and the directors of Odebrecht, in November 2017, information was provided that Mozes Libedinsky was one of the supposed frontmen of De Lima, reports La Prensa.

The ruling was released Wednesday, October 24 although dated July 27. Mozes Libedinsky has been detained since 4 September 2017, for alleged money laundering.

His name came to light in the investigation of the bribes paid by Odebrecht during the approval hearing of the effective collaboration agreement between the directors of the Brazilian construction company and the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor.

In that hearing, held on November 9, 2017, the twelfth criminal judge, Óscar Carrasco, approved the collaboration agreement.

The investigation, carried out by the prosecutor’s office with judicial assistance from  Andorra, determined that Mozes Libedinsky’s operations were made through the Banca Privada de Andorra (BPA) , in which over $3 million was moved.

José Luis Saiz and Olmedo Méndez Tribaldos also revealed to the prosecution that they served as intermediaries to receive at least  $7 million from Odebrecht that were for De Lima.

The former minister has denied his involvement with Odebrecht bribes.

Flight risk
On January 7, 2018, Carrasquilla denied an application for bail for Libedinsky, arguing that there is a flight risk, since, , he is a Chilean national and, has with the economic means to leave the country and destroy evidence

Mozes Libedinsky accepted article 25 of the  Constitution so as not to file a statement in the process.

Judge Carrasquilla, in denying him bail, said  that, “although it is true that the defendant has a constitutional right not to testify against himself, it is also true that his dismissal would have aided the investigation, that the reasons for his links with the Odebrecht company would be known, which would have served to separate him from the investigation and therefore obtain a possible freedom “.

Now, months after that ruling, Mozes Libedinsky is negotiating an agreement to reveal everything to the prosecution.

In the agreement, he would have to confess to the prosecution to whom the payments he received from Odebrecht executives went.

The prosecution has signed sentencing agreements – with de Lima go-between  Olmedo Méndez Tribaldos, and with Jorge Espino, who declared that he was an intermediary of the former Public Works Minister  Jaime Ford so that he would receive $1.8 million in Odebrecht bribes.