Bullet dodging Canal board member, returns to spotlight

Grupo Corcione, a company owned by Nicolás Corcione who is  dodging the bullet  by hiding behind  his place as a Panama Canal board member, is linked to a new investigation by the fourth anti-corruption prosecutor.

The latest probe is  into former National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (Senacyt) Director Rubén Berrocal for offences against public administration reports La Prensa.

The process is focused on a contract issued by the agency to Grupo Corcione for a feasibility study for the construction of a building in Clayton for $250,000.

The company was also awarded a $21 million contract to “study and build” the structure, essentially getting paid twice for the same work. The building was delivered in April 2014.

Defense attorneys for Berrocal have filed at least four motions before the 17th Criminal Court seeking to dismiss the charges.

This is not the first time that Corcione has been linked to a judicial process.

He has been linked to a money laundering investigation involving accounts belonging to former Supreme Court Justice Alejandro Moncada Luna, who is serving a  five- year sentence for unjustified enrichment and fraud. Corcione has been linked to those accounts.

In another case, Jorge Espino said Corcione asked for a bribe of $600,000 in return for a contract for his company, Concepto y Espacios, to construct a building to house a maritime court.

That contract would have been awarded through Moncada Luna.