Metro chief denies bribery allegations

Roberto Roy who oversaw the construction of Metro line  during the Martinelli administration and has remained at the helm of the state company Metro de Panamá, S.A  under Varela, denies having received bribes from the consortium that built the Metro.

He has described as “false” a testimony of Rodrigo Tacla Durán who told Spanish prosecutors last February that the consortium that built Metro Line 1 –  of which Odebrecht was part-paid bribes to Panamanian officials.

Tacla Duran was the same witness  who said that President Juan

Carlos Varela received money from Odebrecht reports La Prensa.

He said ” I  remember a case of a bribe that Roberto Roy received that FCC paid. “

[FCC was the Spanish company that partnered with Odebrecht to build the Panamanian subway]. Duran said that this bothered the Odebrecht Director in Panama, André Rabello, because “he tried to pay Roberto Roy who did not take the money because he wanted money from the Spanish company [FCC] because he saw that there was less chance of being discovered or suspected of receiving bribes. “

Tacla Duran was arrested in a hotel in Spain in November 2016, at the request of the Brazilian authorities, for having been part of a cartel of companies that systematically paid bribes in exchange for public works contracts.

Spain denied his extradition, but in return offered to judge him in its courts for the crimes that are imputed to him by Brazil.