The last rush to the government cookie jar

AS THE FINAL days of the Martinelli administration draw to a close a direct no-bid 20 year concession to supply fuel to Supply fuel to Tocumen airport has been granted to insiders in the exiting power group.

Observers have described it as the last chance to get into the government cookie jar.

A company managed by Vertikal Corporation has received a direct grant for the use of the sea bottom reports La Prensa.
The legal representative of the company is Lucas De Leon, an employee of group Btesh & Virzi, owned by Gabriel Btesh and Felipe Pipo Virzi. De Leon is a stranger to the logistics industry and several industry
sources Vertikal who would have to transport the fuel supply by barges – as they will from the Bay of Panama to reach Tocumen nobody knew who they were.
The environmental impact study submitted by the company to the National Environmental Authority (ANAM) reveals a fact which can trace the origin and connections of the Vertikal Corporation.
The document to which La Prensa had access identified De Leon, who said the company he represents does not have a website, but he left a contact email: ldeleon@bteshvirzi.com .
The domain allowed the newspaper to identify who De Leon works work for and it was able to confirm that De Leon, the same person who promised to make an investment of $ 35 million, is part of the project department of the firm Btesh & Virzi.
The administrator of the Maritime Authority of Panama, Roberto Linares, who was promoted the deal in Cabinet which agreed to grant the Vertikal Corporation Inc. to use 4.5 hectares river and seabed
The agreement, approved last Tuesday, is handed over to the comptroller, Gioconda Torres de Bianchini, who must assess whether endorses the document.
In September 2013, Bianchini approved a grant to that company. She is one of the Martinelli team that pre President-elect Juan Carlos Varela has called upon to resign. Before her present job she worked for his super-market enterprise.