According to the newspaper La Prensa, the 6th Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s office brought a lawsuit against financial institutions and the Public Register, to seize assets and funds of defendants involved in the case, who had been previously arrested, while also investigating the involvement of another 30 people.

The precautionary measures were taken against Joaquin Rodriguez Salcedo, former Vice President of Factoring and Deposits of Global Bank, Federico Barrios, president and legal representative of the company Blue Apple Services Inc. and his wife, Ana Mercedes Briones.

The Prosecutor’s office asked Interpol for a red alert to arrest Jorge Churro Ruiz, former head of contracts’ management of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) in the 2011-2012 period, while mentioning the possible involvement of former MOP officials Federico Jose Suarez and Jaime Ford, both tried in another case.

Panamanian Attorney General Kenya Porcell said last December that the investigations indicated that former officials ‘of the highest level’ from MOP and the Ministry of Housing, asked state contractors some percent of the works’ value, in exchange for speeding up the process for their execution and payments.

Porcell said that these illegal payments had to be deposited to the limited company Blue Apple Services, which, through five bank accounts in three different banks in the locality, received some $40 million USD.

From there, the bribes were distributed to officials through five corporations and until December, $20 million USD were recovered, while another $9 million USD were located in banks from the United States, Hong Kong, Virgin Islands, Switzerland and China.