Mystery Continues Regarding Tracts of Land Adjacent to the Enrique Jimenez Airport

The outgoing general manager of the Colon Free Zone (ZLC), Giovanni Ferrari Francucci, granted the concession of two tracts of land adjacent to the Enrique Jimenez airport, in the Coco Solo sector, in favor of a company in which his children just happen to be direct beneficiaries.  Sound suspicious?  Perhaps we sense some nepotism happening here?  Concesionaria ONX is a company registered on April 19 (16 days before the elections in which the then ruling PRD lost the Presidency of the Republic) and has Alexis Williams Arosemena as president and legal representative and Juan Carlos Williams Ramírez as secretary.  In a notarized letter dated May 30, Juan Carlos Williams declared under oath that the “owners” of 100% of the shares of Concesionaria ONX are the companies, Corporación ONX, SA, Sky Cana SRL and Carga Transístmica, SA.  It is not specified what each company’s share is or whether the shares are divided equally.  In that same notarized document, Juan Carlos Williams specified who the “final beneficiaries” of Carga Transístmica were: Marco Alessandro, Bruno, Giovanni and Melania Ferrari Maruri, all children of the ZLC manager, Giovanni Ferrari.  

The Public Registry states that the subscribers of Carga Transístmica are Giovanni Ferrari Francucci and his mother Adriana Francucci de Ferrari.  Marco and Bruno Ferrari Maruri are the president and treasurer, respectively.  The names of Alexis Williams Arosemena and Frank Díaz González appear listed as beneficiaries of ONX Corporation and Sky Cana.  The two plots of land delivered to Concesionaria ONX (identified as lot number 1575) have an area of ​​1,073,965 square meters and were rented for 20 years, renewable, starting last June 1.  In exchange, the ZLC would charge a monthly lease of $0.005, but the rent will begin to apply two years after the start of commercial exploitation of the Colón airport, as detailed by the Presidency of the Republic last Friday, when it called a press conference to inform the country about the existence of what it has described as a “land deal in Colón.”

That day, it was announced that an investigation had been ordered “for alleged irregularities and conflict of interest in the previous government” and that both concessions (the ZLC and the Enrique Jiménez airport) had been suspended.  It was then said that the directors or final beneficiaries of the concessionaire company “could” be linked “to the authorities who administered the ZLC in the previous government,” but no names were provided.  Raffoul Arab , former general manager of Tocumen International Airport, SA (Aitsa), stressed that the lands granted to ONX are not part of Aitsa’s assets (but of the ZLC) and that the contract for the commercial exploitation of the Colon terminal has not yet been drawn up, since relevant details of the company that won the public tender are being “verified.”

He added that he informed José Ruiz, the manager of Aitsa appointed by President José Raúl Mulino, about this tender, and who will be responsible for “making the final decisions.”  “The list of charges submitted by all national and international interested parties requires immediate multi-million dollar investments, which is why the concessionaire will be granted a year of grace,” he stressed.  “It is the power of the new general manager and the new government administration to make changes, investigate, adjust or suspend the process initiated, based on all the information that has been provided in a timely and transparent manner,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mulino appointed Luisa Napolitano as manager of the ZLC, but the National Assembly has yet to ratify this appointment.  Ferrari Francucci was the manager of the ZLC during the five years of Laurentino Cortizo’s government (2019-2024).  Last year, he was banned from leaving the country by order of civil judge Carmen Jurado, following a liquidation process initiated against him by Metrobank.  The measure was also applied to Augusto Antonio Robinson González and six companies: Inversiones Murcia, Pistar Holding, Harpel Industrial Corp., Delcamar Enterprises, Pistar Chiricano and Pistar Veragüense.  Robinson is the legal representative of the six companies while Ferrari is identified as joint guarantor.  Since last Saturday, Ferrari Francucci has been unable to produce his version of events, and so far he has not responded to the press.