Moderators Moderator_02 Posted July 29, 2017 Moderators Share Posted July 29, 2017 Quote Varela accused in Odebrecht bombshell Posted on July 28, 2017 in Panama Tacla Duran and Juan Carlos Varela Post Views: 348 THE LATEST bombshell in the ongoing Odebrecht bribery scandal adds President Juan Carlos Varela to the list of those who allegedly benefited from the corrupting largesse of the Brazilian construction company. It comes this time from the mouth of a former lawyer of the Brazilian construction company, and says La Estrella De Panama. opens a Pandora’s box whose Panamanian key is in the hands of the Public Ministry, not noted for fast action. Panama prosecutors were previously accused of having sat on their hands when asked to cooperate with Brazilian prosecutors working on the Lava Jato case which had seen the former president of Odebrecht jailed for 20 years, while he and a clutch of former executives were cooperating by naming names of corrupt officials in a dozen countries including Panama, who had received multi millions in bribes. The Panama figure had been listed as $59 million, but was believed to be much higher as over $25 million has been seized in bank accounts and assets from the sons of former President alone, and a total of 43 Panamanians are under investigation. Ramon Fonseca accused Varela President Varela was previously accused of links to Odebrecht by a partner of the Mossack Fonseca law firm, and former advisor to the president at the time of his arrest in the Panama Papers scandal. In an exclusive interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, a Spanish born Brazilian lawyer linked to Odebrecht between 2011 and 2016, has fingered former president Ricardo Martinelli, his candidate in the 2014 elections, José Domingo Arias, and President Juan Carlos Varela. Gtatitude Parties In addition to bribes Rodrigo Tacla Durán, described “thank you parties” for officials with women flown in from Brazil. Photos taken were later used as blackmail he said.. Tacla, an attorney with Odebrecht’s Structured Operations Department, which was created to distribute bribes in countries where the company operated told José María Irujo and Joaquín Gil, El País journalists, that the construction company ‘transferred funds’ to Michelle Lasso, “a person close to” Varela now president of Panama. “Odebrecht was organizing parties, and sent women from Brazil to celebtate with politicians in Panama and the Dominican Republic. It was the company’s way of expressing its gratitude. Although it later also became a blackmail …” says Tacla, who is on bailand pending trial for money laundering, among other crimes. According to El País, Tacla claims that the construction company paid one million euros to two suppliers of a rum company owned by the Varela family. “The payment was made through an HSBC account in Hong Kong,” he says. Varela and Rabello He also claims that the Panama Attorney’s Office contacted its Spanish counterpart to take an interest in his judicial declaration. “When I asked for the collaboration with Panama to be official, they did not call me again,” said the lawyer, who identifies the “change of attitude” of the Panamanian Public Prosecutor’s Office with the “friendship” of President Varela and André Rabello, former head of Odebrecht in Panama. “They want to know what I said in Spain In 2014, he adds, the construction company tried to give a plane to Martinelli, but the politician rejected it. “The company wanted to stay in with Martinelli and the candidate of his party, José Domingo Arias, of the ruling Democratic Change, in the general election that year, Tacla told El Pais. Martinelli, his wife and Arias at rally Referring to the $59 million in bribes to representatives and relatives of the Government of Panama between 2010 and 2014, acknowledged by Odebrecht the lawyer says that “the amount is greater” and that the company “ran with the expenses of the main candidates of the 2014 elections: José Domingo Arias and his adversary, the current president Varela. It bet on both.” Varela denial President Juan Carlos Varela rejected the implications in the interview report La Prensa, La Estrella, El Siglo and other media. “The Odebrecht investigation is in the Public Prosecutor’s Office, I’m not going to comment, because it would be irresponsible,” Varela said According to the president, the information on his campaign donations is public and Tacla’s assertions about his family’s company, Varela Hermanos, “are totally false.” He also rejected any complicity with the Odebrecht Prosecutor’s Office, and stressed that “we must trust the authorities of the country, which are the ones that have to find those responsible [receiving bribes], to recover our heritage and to know the whole truth. http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/varela-accused-odebrecht-bombshell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted July 30, 2017 Author Moderators Share Posted July 30, 2017 Quote Business and civil groups demand speedy Odebrecht probe Posted on July 29, 2017 in Panama President Varela center of firestorm Post Views: 79 BUSINESS organizations civil society groups and members of political parties are united in demanding that the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) speeds up investigations in the Odebrecht bribery investigations. The call came after Spanish newspaper El País published statements by Rodrigo Tacla Durán,a former financial operator of the Brazilian construction company. Tacla alleged that Odebrecht paid through HSBC in Hong Kong, a million Euros to two suppliers of a rum company owned by President Juan Carlos Varela. Panama’s Chamber of Commerce labeled the crisis “Extremely serious”, but called for caution. “With these and other indications of possible corruption, we reiterate that the MP and others competent bodies must advance and complete the corresponding investigations in a diligent way,” said a Chamber spokesperson. http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/business-civil-groups-demand-speedy-odebrecht-probe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted August 2, 2017 Author Moderators Share Posted August 2, 2017 Quote CD lawmakers move to confront Varela Posted on August 1, 2017 in Panama Moving to probe Varela Post Views: 198 WHILE their leader, ex president Ricardo Martinelli, sits in a Miami jail awaiting an extradition hearing, lawmakers of the fractured Democratic Change Party (CD) have moved to investigate his successor, President Juan Carlos Varela. Martinelli is wanted back in Panama to face a criminal trial for illegal surveillance of rival politicians, journalists, lawyers and businessmen with a potential 20 years in jail if found guilty, What could be the beginning of a series of criminal denunciations against Varela was registered in the General Secretariat of the National Assembly, by a group of CD Depuries, presenting a motion for the Assembly to be declared “in court: sessions to investigate Varela in the Odebrecht case. The motion was submitted to the Assembly’s secretary general, Franz Wever, and is based on articles of the Political Constitution that establish that judicial sessions shall be those dedicated to the exercise of the jurisdictional powers of the National Assembly. The reaction of CD members is in response to statements made by Odebrecht’s former financial operator, Rodrigo Tacla Durán, to the Spanish newspaper El País, where he implicates Varela in the corruption plot, saying that both people close to him and suppliers of his company, received money from the Brazilian company. Tacla Duran’s statements, as well as those of former presidential advisor Ramon Fonseca Mora, who said Varela’s presidential campaign was financed by by Odebrecht, are sufficient for the Assembly to act says the group. The constitutional motion filed by lawyers Mariela Jiménez, Dámaso García and Alexis Sinclair is based on Article 160 of the Constitution. Which says that it is the judicial function of the National Assembly to hear allegations or denunciations against the President and the judges of the Court, as well as to try them, Lawyer Ernesto Cedeño, said that for the Assembly to be declared in court sessions there must be a complaint with all elements. “The Code of Criminal Procedure states that in order to file a complaint against the president, the appropriate proof is necessary to be able to admit it to the Assembly,” said Cedeño. http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/cd-lawmakers-want-assembly-toconfront-varela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted December 9, 2017 Author Moderators Share Posted December 9, 2017 Quote Varela won’t answer “political” donation accusations Posted on December 8, 2017 in Panama Juan Carlos Varela Post Views: 95 ACCUSATIONS linking President Juan Carlos Varela and the Panamenista Party to Odebrecht bribery are part of of political attacks and he does not intend to respond to them he said on Friday, December 7. He made the statement following the December 6 move by Pedro Miguel González, Secretary General of the opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party, to ask the Public Prosecutor’s Office to open an investigation against Varela, after seeing a report that indicates that the Panameñista Party would have received alleged donations from the Odebrecht company. Varela said that he knew that by delivering the Colón urban renewal of project and “the successful trip to China” he would receive political attacks. “They think that by attacking the president they will win the next elections,” he said He added that he had already warned in Colón on December 4, that he would answer all political attacks against his figure as president “ by delivering to the Panamanian people the works to which he committed “If I answer to answer political attacks, I become part of a campaign” in which I don’t belong because “I am already president of the Republic,” Varela said in statements to the media during a Mothers Day tour. Open books He reiterated that he and his political party answered on the Odebrecht issue and that their books are open. In a Public Ministry investigation on September 4, which was part of the probe by the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office of the payment of bribes by Odebrecht to Panamanian officials and individuals, Jaime Lasso Del Castillo indicated that “$700,00 were donated to the Panameñista Party and I understand that they were also reported for the candidacy of the vice president in the 2009 elections (…)” http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/varela-wont-answer-political-donation-accusations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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