$25 million Italy-Panama soap opera moves on

VALTER LAVÍTOLA, already sentenced to a total of seven years and seven months in prison in four criminal proceedings for of international corruption spent 15 minutes with Italian prosecutor Paolo Lelo, in a Rome Court room.

He said the Finmeccanica company lawyer worked ‘to divert bribes’. At the end, Lavítola asked for permission to talk to his wife and the judge granted a minute of time before the Penitentiary Police officers lead him to the vehicle to return him to Naples prison. Sources believe that the conversation related to a plea bargain. The case which revolves around the alleged bribing of elected Panama government officials, including former President, Ricardo Martinelli, who has described the ongoing trials as an Italian Soap Opera.
The next hearing, scheduled for June 11, will feature the witness Fabio Sansivieri, the ex-collaborator of Lavítola with a good knowledge of his illegal activities.
Prosecutors have legal documentation sufficient to prove that the sale of helicopters, radar and digital mapping system to Panama with Finmeccanica scheduled to pay a bribe of $25 million to Agafea of Panama, whose president was Karen de Gracia, ex paramour of Lavítola Meanwhile, Lavítola has alleged in statements that the bank account Agafea which he opened in Bulgaria and which was supposed to settle bribes, responding only to matters of tax savings, an unconvincing argument because he had no official position in Panamanian society, says La Prensa.