Fourth bridge consortium among dubious background contractors

The list of the principal contractors of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) includes companies that have admitted before the local authorities of their respective countries that they paid bribes in Panama, during the five years of the Ricardo Martinelli administration, 2009 -2014.

Among the companies that have important contracts with the MOP, according to the Visible Contractor portal, are the Costa Rican Meco, the Spanish FCC Construcción, the Brazilian Odebrecht, and the Panamanians Bagatrac and Rodsa, linked to different cases in Panama.

The company that executes the project of the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal, the most important awarded by the MOP, with a value of $ 1,518 billion, was disabled between 2011 and 2017 by the World Bank for a case linked to a project in the Philippines. Meanwhile, the project to reform the Public Procurement Law, which could include the inability to hire corrupt companies, has not advanced in the Assembly reports La Prensa.