New report highlights Oderbrecht bribery through 3 administrations
The Panama Metro, icon of the Martinelli Ns Varela and administrations, which changed the lives of thousands of Panamanians, was also a bargaining chip for bribes paid by Odebrecht. Of this project, at least $23 million would have been paid to local officials says an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, (ICIJ) which sent shock waves through financial circles and governments around the world with the publication of the Panama Papers and the closing of the Mossack Fonseca network.
The latest claim was corroborated by La Prensa when analyzing part of the 13,000 documents leaked from the communications of the Drousys system, as part of Odebrecht’s Structured Operations Sector which extracted millions of dollars of works awarded in Panama to Odebrecht. From the payment received by the company, this, through its Bribery Division, allocated a part to the Panamanian officials who participated in the crime.
La Prensa, like other publications in Latin America in countries embroiled in the Odebrecht bribery network, has published large sections of the investigation and brought under the spotlight dozens of prominent figures in the administrations of Martin Torrijos, Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela, leading to moves by the Public Ministry to extend investigations of Odebrecht’s Panama operations.
In the analysis presented it must be borne in mind that the calculation of what has been paid in bribes is partial because all the payment schedules are not present. In addition, there is evidence that the company destroyed information and documents mentioning works in Panama.
The nicknames used by some beneficiaries reveal the identities of some of them when relating to the money receiving companies.
Simple, but effective. This was the strategy of Odebrecht to take over the mega projects in the countries where it decided to “compete”. The bribe became currency and the construction company consolidated in the region … until the mega-scandal broke.
Investigations rained in every country where Odebrecht had a presence, including Brazil, where its fall began in 2014, with the Lava Jato operation.
The ICIJ has had access to documents from the Drousys platform – the encrypted communications system used by Odebrecht’s Structured Operations Sector to manage hundreds of millions in bribes.
In this new filtration -obtained by the Ecuadorian La Posta , and shared in the ICIJ- La Prensa has counted illegal payments from 2007 to 2014. It is not all, but the sum reaches $73 million, not including invoices for the deviation of money to the bribes division nor the erased transactions, including destruction of messages with mentions of works in Panama.
Bribery Sources
Th first project was the irrigation system Remigio Rojas, in 2006. His first bribe recipients : Amigo da onca, Capitao y Salario. They received $136,000, The payment was ordered by AR, short for André Rabello , the then boss in Panama. The payment was ordered on Halloween day 2007.
But before – there had already been payments that continued during the rest of the Martin Torrijos’ period (2004-09).
Odebrecht payments
They were, in total, 10.5 million paid by the Structured Operations Sector (SOE) of Odebrecht, not including the payments of the first three.
The beneficiaries were hiding behind the Vernell Development Corp. ($ 1.3 million); Marpeach atrade Llc. ($1.4 million): World Values ($3 million); Beldent International Corp. ($600.000); Strategic Management Group ($150,000; Don James Foundation ($750,000; Caribbean Holding Services ($3.1 million) and Importadora Guiberug ($200,000). Only two projects fed these payments: the Madden-Colón highway and the Cinta Costera (phase I).
The SOE used money from the Madden-Colón highway to pay about $11 million to 13 companies. Its recipient was the second most benefited by Odebrecht in Panama: “Cachaza.”
Mundial de Valores is related to businessman Rodrigo Díaz; Don James Foundation and Poseidon Enterprises, former Ambassador of Panama in South Korea and “lobbyist” of the Panameñista Party, Jaime Lasso; Marpeca Seatrade Llc, linked to the businessman Fotis Lymberópulos -recently released from investigation into this case- and Caribbean Holding Services Ltd., by fugitive Aaron Ronny Mizrachi, brother-in-law of Ricardo Martinelli.
Panama Metro
Most of the illicit payments in Panama, the SOE extracted it from the Metro, flagship project The Secretary of the Metro, and Canal Minister, Roberto Roy, maintains that this work has been transparent. But, according to the data analyzed, money was extracted from this project to make illegal payments from 2011 to 2014.
The works of line 1, which ended up costing some $600 million over the award price, were in charge of the Odebrecht-FCC consortium. The Spanish authorities investigate whether FCC has obtained contracts in Panama and other countries through bribes. Odebrecht financial operator Rodrigo Tacla Durán said that he remembers “a bribe that Roberto Roy received from FCC.” The official emphatically denies it.
In the data analyzed, nine people received the largest amount of funds from this work: Cachaza ($10 million); Aguia ($7 million); Canary ($3 million), Rato Roeu and Alemao ($1 million each), Ratatouille ($914000), Burger King ($105,000, Salary ($76 ,000 ) and Peao ($46,000 The same nicknames received funds from other works.
Cinta Costera
The coastal strip was one of the main projects. The first phase was awarded to Odebrecht by the Torrijos government at a cost of $189 million, a work that Martinelli called the “coimera (bribery)ribbon” .
From this project came multiple payments for, at least, $8 million, according to La Prensa calculations
Some of the payments made by the SOE with funds from these projects date from 2009. Eight transactions, amounting to $2 million, went to the companies Importadora Guiberug, Caribbean Holding Services, Ltd., and the Don James Foundation. The forms do not detail the aliases of these recipients.
Cinta Costera III, awarded to Odebrecht in 2011 at an initial cost of $776 million, ended up costing, after four addenda, $782 million. Against their funds, payments were made for $6 million, between April 2012 and October 2014, although not all records are in.
It benefited Sarawak, Idaho Holdings Mext Trading, Ralfim, Poseidon and Westfall Holdings. The latter, linked to former Minister Jaime Ford, nicknamed Explorer in the spreadsheets.
Westfall received $ 200,000 from the SOE in February 2014, from Cinta Costera funds, and $1 million more from January to July 2014, taken from the historical heritage restoration project, in Casco Viejo
