Carriers switched routes and plates to get compensation
The anti-corruption prosecutor Anilú Batista on the fourth day hearing of the “red devils” (diablos rojos) compensation scam described the modus operandi of the carriers who, irregularly and with the help of officials from the Transportation Authority (ATTT) and representatives of the concessionaires, received compensation for their buses, between 2010 and 2014.
Batista alleged that some carriers, in their eagerness to obtain compensation money, brought buses from the interior whose quota had even been withdrawn.
Batista explained that the directors of the concessionaires requested the suspension of the quota, then assigned it to one of the trunk or corridor routes in Panama City and certifying to the ATTT that the bus had several years of providing service on that route.
To allow the change of route, the concessionaire -with the help of ATTT officials- allowed the payment of expired license plates for periods of up to eight years. In a week or 15 days, the carrier received the payment of $25,000 and $75,000.
The prosecutor asked the court to call the first 25 carriers to trial, among whom are women and older adults, some of whom allege that they only lent their names to obtain the operation certificate since the true owner of the bus was a brother, husband, or partner.
The prosecution presented to the court a copy of the checks in which it is stated that the buses were compensated and the documents in which the borrowers canceled the quotas and then the bus was activated on another of the Panama City routes.
