Panama bribe scandal: Ex-president's sons got $50 mn from Brazilian firm

Two sons of former President Ricardo Martinelli are suspected of receiving more than $50 million in undue payments from a Brazilian construction giant at the centre of an international bribe scandal, Panamanian prosecutors have said.

The Attorney General's Office alleged in a statement that there were several multimillion-dollar transfers to Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enriquez Martinelli through accounts in Panama and abroad in 2010-2014.

It said the allegations are based on information from a cooperating witness in the investigation: Andre Campos Rabello, the former Panama manager for Brazil's Odebrecht.

The family has denied involvement by the sons in the bribery scandal and alleges persecution by political foes.

The former president, who also denies any wrongdoing, is currently detained in the United States facing possible extradition to Panama on charges of embezzlement and political espionage.

Odebrecht has acknowledged paying nearly $800 million dollars in bribes in a dozen Latin American nations in return for favours and works contracts.
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Now, Nawaz Sharif's daughter accused of 'Fontgate'; Twitter goes berserk

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz was in the midst of a raging controversy on Tuesday after the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the Panamagate graft case against her family alleged that she submitted fake documents. JIT accused Maryam of presenting tampered documents on two 2006 declarations to the probe team. Interestingly, the font used in the documents pertaining to the year 2006 is "Calibri", which was not commercially available until January 30, 2007.

The JIT said Maryam Nawaz, her brothers Hussain and Hassan Nawaz, as well as her husband Captain Mohammad Safdar (retd), had signed false documents to mislead the Supreme Court.

The controversy

The members of JIT, after having received the documents from Maryam Nawaz, forwarded the documents to a British forensic handwriting firm which revealed that the ‘Calibri’ font used by Maryam in its documents had not been made available by Microsoft at the time. According to a report of Express Tribune, the font used in documents suggested that the 2006 declarations were fake and it is a federal crime.

Earlier, JIT in its 10-volume report submitted to the apex court recommended that a corruption case should be filed against Sharif and his sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, as well as daughter Maryam Nawaz, under the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance 1999.
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