COMPANY BRIBED PRESIDENT’S SONS

PANAMA CITY: Two sons of former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli were paid $49 million (R698m) by Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht through shell companies, Panama’s prosecutors’ office said this week.

Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enriquez Martinelli, whose whereabouts are unknown, were paid to facilitate paperwork for contracts that the company had won.

They were paid through accounts in Panama and abroad from 2010 to 2014, prosecutors said.

Odebrecht agreed in August to pay $220m in fines and to co-operate with investigators probing bribes of Panamanian officials. – Reuters