Panama Papers duo face fresh corruption probe

THE PANAMA law firm Mossack Fonseca is once again in the corruption spotlight as the Second Prosecutor against Organized Crime is conducting an investigation linking the firm with an alleged Ecuador bribery scandal through the Ecuadorean public  Hydrocarbons company EP   Petroecuador).

The investigation is being carried out by the prosecutor Ricaurte Gonzalez following a request for judicial assistance from Ecuador authorities who discovered that Alex Bravo Pachano, Petroecuador’s former manager, had acquired a number of companies in Panama through Mossack Fonseca.  The companies had diverted funds From concessions granted to the company by  the State of Ecuador.

In Panama, the prosecution has filed charges against Mirzella Inés Tuñón, of Mossack Fonseca, Who signed a contract with Pachano, representative of the company Girbra, S.A., and Arkadale Investments Limited, which received several bank transfers from Ecuador.

According to the investigations, EP Petroecuador would have received some $30 million in contracts for the execution of works, funds that ended abroad.

In this case, the prosecution analyzed the cash flows from Ecuador, which according to the authorities of that country were the product of irregularities in the management of public funds assigned by Petroecuador to private companies for improvements in two refineries.

Pachano was convicted in Ecuador for corruption offenses when commissions passed through Panama.

In the framework of the investigation carried out by Prosecutor Vásquez, assistance has been requested from Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Cayman Islands and Ecuador for  the banking transactions of the companies linked to Mossack Fonseca that would be part

Of the corruption scheme created by Pachano and his partners. The Ecuadorian authorities were asked for information concerning the activities of Pachano and Juan Andrés Baquerizo Escobar –  an Intermediary between several of the companies that would have received funds from the payment of  Commissions for the contracts awarded by Pachano-

The International Consortium of Journalists (ICIJ) had reported in its Panama Papers, links of Pachano with offshore companies, created by Mossack Fonseca.

This would be the second case for alleged money laundering faced by the founding members of the  firm.

Ramón Fonseca Mora and Jürguen Mossack are under investigation for alleged money laundering, through companies created by its subsidiary in Brazil. After being detained for two months, both received a $500,000 bail bond.