Country arrest for ex-ambassador in laundering probe

Former Panamanian Ambassador to South Korea,  Dr Jaime Lasso who was the link-man between Oderbrecht the Brazilian construction company and the Panameñista Party cannot leave Panama without judicial authorization and must report on the 10th of each month.

The former Odebrecht lobbyist under investigation for alleged money laundering visited the anticorruption prosecution’s headquarters, for the third time on Friday, March 13,.  He was accompanied by his lawyer, who was wearing a mask.

In the two previous appearances, the doctor told prosecutor Zuleyka Moore that former President  Juan Carlos Varela and his brother, former deputy  José Luis Popi Varela, knew that the Odebrecht company which confessed to paying bribes in Panama in exchange for contracts with the State, Contributed funds to the campaign of the Panameñista party since 2009 and, at least, until 2012.

Lasso is linked to the Don James Foundation and two companies: V Tech and Poseidon Enterprises –with accounts in AOB and Meinl banks, respectively company fed by Odebrecht funds, through its Sector Structured Operations, which in practice was the office used to pay bribes.

“I was the person who participated as a liaison for electoral political support from 2009 to December 2012. In subsequent years, I have no idea if the support continued,” Lasso told prosecutor Moore in his first interrogations.

“I only touched on these issues with Juan Carlos Varela and José Luis Varela … I did not relate to anyone else nor did I discuss this with anyone else,” he said.