Filling the spaces left by Odebrecht 

There is no doubt that empty spaces tend to fill up. After the Odebrecht scandal, its place seems to have been taken by local companies that were previously small, but are now construction giants, a change in status that could well have been reached using shortcuts, as happened in the Blue Apple case, another major scandal in which local and foreign companies admitted to having paid bribes to officials of Ricardo Martinelli’s government (2009-2014). One of those companies is now the star in the fiefdom of the deputy president of the PRD. Yesterday, in a ceremony in which the President of the Republic and several ministers of State participated, the Bocatoreño deputy Benicio Robinson accompanied in his province his new best friend, the owner of the construction company Bagatrac, to receive two new contracts, totaling more than $100 million. With these new works, Bagatrac now accumulates –only in Bocas del Toro and Chiriquí– a portfolio of public works that totals more than $270 million. Why is a deputy – in this case Robinson – personally involved in delivering contracts to a company that has a reputation for paying bribes for public works? Are these, perhaps, the spaces left by Odebrecht that local companies now fill? – LA PRENSA, Sep. 29.