Ex-VP of Super 99 linked to PAN scandal

THE DIRECTOR of  electricity  supplier Ensa and former vice president of executive Importer Ricamar (the trade name of Super 99).is one of the names that surfaced during Monday’s meeting between a former director of the National Assistance Program (PAN) and an anticorruption prosecutor.

And, reports La Prensa it is not the first time the name Javier Pariente,  has arisen over  the issue of the purchase of  dehydrated food  by the PAN and why Giacomo Tamburrelli is being investigated. Pariente, says a source, was close to the negotiations of two contracts in the amount of $60 million to acquire these foods for the PAN.

“[Javier] Pariente is a personal friend of Ruben De Ycaza, who sold the food, and through him, the sample went to the presidency ” the informant said, noting that soon after January 2010 (six months after Martinelli took office)  the then Minister of the Presidency, Demetrio Papadimitriu, promoted the food program and in  in less than three months it was distributed in schools.

When questioned about the accusations, says La Prensa,  Pariente said tersely, “That is not so.” “[De Ycaza] is my friend. I’ve known him for over 40-odd years, we grew up together, “he said, but denied any link with the supplier of dehydrated food -Lerkshore International Limited- which received PAN payments via international wire of  millions of dollars endorsed by ex-comptroller Gioconda Torres de Bianchini, who had worked for Martinelli for 15 years before he appointed her to the post.

Gonzalo Moncada, Tamburrelli’s,lawyer  neither confirmed nor denied the linkage of  Pariente in the scandal to avoid damaging the investigation.

LINKS
Pariente is closely related to the business of Ricardo Martinelli and is involved, along with relatives of the former president, in at least 40 corporations.

One of the companies is Airmax, SA, which sells wholesale air conditioners. Directors include former President Martinelli; his wife, Marta Linares, and his son Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares.

Roberto Brin, a Martinelli employee  whom the Second Anticorruption Prosecutor filed charges against  last week, after the former director of PAN Rafael Guardia – revealed that he had benefited with lucrative contracts on Martinelli’s instructions, also appears in the deposition  along with the ex-president’s  private secretary, Adolfo ‘Chichi’ De Obarrio.

Brin on Monday, July 26, said   that he was not a  shareholder in Hialing Corporation, SA that sold toys and bags of food to the office of the former first lady Marta Linares de Martinelli.

Pariente  is also a director of  corporations with Mario Martinelli, brother of the ex-president, who Guardia named  as one of the businessmen who sold rice at a premium to PAN.

The closeness of Pariente with the former President also led him in  August 2009, to the post of director to the board of the Agency Panama Pacifico Special Economic Area on behalf of the Executive reports La Prensa.

CONCESSIONS
Pariente also benefited from direct contracts at Tocumen airport under the administration of Martinelli says La Prensa.

For example, his company Propinsa, Inc. received more than  $4 million in contracts, mostly related to the supply, labor and installation s of X-ray machines, at Tocumen  International airport.

The same company also sold to Tocumen in March 2010 an incinerator, from the US, priced at $217,000 to treat international garbage. But that equipment was imported at a cost of only $65,000.

Propinsa, S.A. is related to the company Engineering and Management, SA (Ingesa), created in March 2010 to provide maintenance services in general and specialized, apartment construction, remodeling and construction inspections.

Nothing was said about solid waste. But, the company it  was hired by Tocumen to offer the service for six months.

Meanwhile, the assistant to Pariente in Ensa Zelideth Tello also appears as a director of a newly formed company, Pro Travel Services, SA, which received a direct grant from  the Tocumen airport to sell snacks, drinks and pizzas.

The company executives include Pedro Martez, brother of Pariente; while the lawyer who preparedsthe minutes of the society is Mariel Jované, Ensa lawyer.

Pariente distanced himself from these relationships and coincidences: “I have nothing to do either as an administrator or a director or shareholder of that company.”  he said.