Government bribery scandal a soap opera – Martinelli

MASSIVE BRIBES were paid to high level Panama government officials to get a contract for modular prisons which were never built say papers now in the hands of Italian prosecutors.

Executives of the company Svemark have admitted paying bribes for the aborted deal to Panamanian officials reports La Prensa in a front page story headlined Lavitola-Martinelli: cárceles, helicópteros y coimas (jails, helicopters and bribes).

While the Panamanian Public Ministry decided to "bury" any controversy related to research of direct purchasing of prisons, radar and helicopters from companies in Italy, prosecutors in that country have continued their investigations of "international bribery," says the report
In Panama, the only defendant is Balbina Herrera, the former presidential candidate of the opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), which issued a series of emails exchanged between the president, Ricardo Martinelli, and Valter Lavítola, a skilled broker who is under house arrest in Rome.
Panama's government negotiated for more than two years the design and construction of modular prisons in four cities. According to the investigation in Italy payments were made in 2010 and 2011 for about $850,000 to persons of “great closeness” with President Martinelli.
According to documents and statements made by prosecutors in Italy, these payments were made to Rogelio Oruna– Panama representative of IBT Group which in turn would channel these funds to Panamanian government officials. Also paid was Valter Lavítola who then was a guest of the Government and the President of Panama.
Svemark also made payments to a company which is a partner of the Italian Claudio Fagiano. The money from this transfer was to give, according to testimonies collected in Italy into the hands of Frankie Francisco Martinelli, cousin of the President, but Fagiano denies having given money to Frankie Martinelli.
Svemark sought to obtain a direct contract of more than $200 million for a modular prisons project.
According to the details that are in the file in Italy, Martinelli’s cousin Frankie and his own son Ricardo Rica Martinelli Linares, participated in the negotiations to set the price of prisons.
Rica, who then or now has been an officer of the government of his father, agreed to accompany Lavítola to see the then Minister of Government, Roxana Mendez, now Mayor of Panama in his efforts to achieve the Svermark contract says the La Prensa report.
The file also shows that the Italian ambassador accredited in Panama at that time took steps "to try to unlock the question of the construction of modular prisons".
Precisely, the ambassador tried to meet, along with Angelo Capriotti the main partner of Svemark, with Rica Martinelli ,Lavítola admitted to Italian prosecutors.
La Prensa sought to obtain comments of the President, his son, his cousin, former Minister Mendez and the rest of the staff mentioned in theresearch, without having received any response.
The President,  after receiving the questionnaire sent by La Prensa, said in his Twitter account on Friday, October : "I am told the newspaper of the opposition is reissuing the Italian soap opera to promote and defend their local hero".