The magistrate of the Spanish National Court, Santiago Pedraz will come to Panama to take statements from various witnesses, including two former ministers.
Pedraz is in charge of the investigation related to the alleged payment of bribes to sign contracts in the country between 2010 and 2017 of the Spanish state company, Mercasa, which manages, through millionaire contracts with the State, the network of national markets.
According to the Spanish digital newspaper Voz Populi, Pedraz will arrive in Panama between January 24 and 28, to interview a series of witnesses for the case, among them, the former Minister of the Presidency – under the mandate of former President Ricardo Martinelli, – Demetrio Papadimitriu and the former Minister of Commerce and Industries – under the presidency of Juan Carlos Varela, Melitón Arrocha, who also served as Panama’s ambassador to the United Nations.
According to the same medium, the Spanish Court, in coordination with the Public Ministry of Panama, they also summoned the lawyer Aylen Villarreal, the administrative Yira Elzebir, the former coordinator of the Mercasa company in Panama, Alain Rajiv Anguizola, the architects Ignacio Vilela and Miguel Benito Galipienzo and representatives of Panamanian companies involved in the tenders that are in the summary of the case.
The Spanish National Court also asked the Panamanian Public Ministry for information on bank accounts that Mercasa opened at the Bac Credomatic bank, and those managed by the former deputy director of the company, Luis Hermosilla.
According to the Spanish prosecutor’s office, the procedures carried out so far clarified how, between October 2010 and May 2017, said company was awarded five public contracts with a total amount of $ 9.79 million.
In its note, Voz Populi adds that “the commission agent who would have mediated [por Mercasa en Panamá] is Melitón Arrocha ”, through his law firm, and with the help of lawyer Aylen Villareal.
In a note published by the newspaper La Prensa, they indicate that they contacted Arrocha, and he was surprised by the news and the summons that reached him last Friday, and stated that he had already gathered the files to present them to the Spanish judge.
“The information I have from the Public Ministry is that they summon me as a witness, in an act of international judicial cooperation. Indeed, from 2010 to 2014, the firm Arrocha y Compañía, served as a lawyer for the company Mercasa, S, A. The contractual relationship to assist with legal services was based on a retainer contract – a professional services lease in Panama, for a fixed monthly payment – at a rate of $ 750 per month, which allowed 8 hours of legal services, with a fee additional reduced of $ 125 per hour for any additional service they required, “the former minister told La Prensa.
He added that the contract lasted approximately four years; in which the main item that was invoiced as fees was the retainer contract. The execution of the contract was carried out by a multiplicity of people within the firm, depending on the specialty.
The former official stressed that the total amount of fees in the four years is approximately $ 40 thousand. “I gave them advice on notification processes for breach of contract with the suppliers they had,” he said.
In the case of Papadimitriu, the Spanish prosecutor’s office maintains that the former minister intervened in the signing of the contract of November 1, 2010, for the construction of eight public markets, for $ 6.5 million. “The execution of these contracts through the subcontracting of different companies by Mercasa affects and affects the management of public funds in the Spanish State,” indicates the Prosecutor’s Office, quoted by the digital medium.
“I had no idea about the investigation. I find out from you. Nobody had warned me and I didn’t know anything, ”Papadimitriu told the Panamanian newspaper.
