News
Thursday 18th July 2024.
July 17, 2024
Concesionaria ONX,SA , the consortium at the center of an investigation into the alleged “land deal in Colón,” says it never hid from the Colón Free Zone (ZLC) who its members were, and asked for respect for its legal security and the rule of law.
The concessionaire’s beneficiaries include the children of Giovanni Ferrari Francucci , general manager of the ZLC until July 1. A month earlier, ONX obtained permission to occupy two tracts of land in Coco Solo , adjacent to the Enrique Jiménez regional airport , both property of the free zone.
Last February, ONX Concessionaire was also awarded the commercial operation of the aforementioned terminal (the main one in the province of Colón), although the general manager of Tocumen International Airport, SA (Aitsa) at that time, Raffoul Arab , specified that said contract has not been drawn up yet and will probably never see the light of day: last Friday, the Presidency of the Republic announced the suspension of that concession and also that of the ZLC, “due to alleged irregularities and conflicts of interest between officials of the previous government.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, July 17, the concessionaire ruled out “any intention to violate the law” and said it was ready to begin developing the project.
He adds that any company that had won the Aitsa tender would have had to request the lease of the land from the ZLC.
“As a result of the award granted by Aitsa, we acquired the responsibility of developing land adjacent to the terminal complementary to the operation of the Colón airport,” the company noted.
“This request to Zolicol is a logical procedure for any company that won the concession, since the project would have been meaningless if the land did not operate under the same characteristics as the ZLC regime,” he noted.
The consortium warns that in its lease application, “we presented in a transparent manner the relevant information of the members of the consortium, which rules out any intention of not complying with the law.”
La Prensa had access to a document in which Juan Carlos Williams , secretary of the board of directors of Concesionario ONX, reports that 100% of its shares are registered and its owners are three companies: Corporación ONX, SA, Sky Cana SRL and Carga Transístmica, SA
This document states that the final beneficiaries of Carga Transístmica are Marco Alessando, Bruno, Giovanni Luca and Melania Luisa Ferrari Maruri, children of the former manager of the ZLC.
Ferrari Farcucci told La Prensa that the rental of the premises was approved by the board of directors and the executive committee of the ZLC and that it was up to him, as general manager, to abide by that decision.
The Franco-Nevada Corporation of Canada filed a formal arbitration claim against the Panamanian State for the closure of the Cobre Panama project, which was operated by Minera Panama, a subsidiary of the also Canadian First Quantum.
In 2016, Franco-Nevada signed an agreement with First Quantum in which it committed to disburse one billion dollars to finance the construction of the mining project located on a 13,000-hectare concession in the districts of Donoso and Omar Torrijos, in the province of Colón.
Under this agreement, which was to last for 20 years, Franco-Nevada had the option to buy part of the gold and silver extracted by Minera Panama at a price lower than the price of both minerals on the international market.
Following the cessation of mining activity in the country, Franco-Nevada’s claim was registered on July 12 at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
“On February 23, 2024, we filed an updated notice of intent, reiterating our intent to commence arbitration under the FTA. The notice also specified that the company preliminarily estimates its damages at at least $5 billion, subject to further analysis and development,” Franco-Nevada detailed in a financial report.
The ICSID registration form indicates that the Canadian company will be represented by Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City, United States, and in Panama by the firm Fábrega Molino.
Franco-Nevada notified the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MICI) of its intentions to file an arbitration claim against the State for the first time on November 23 of last year.
Following notification, a six-month period was opened for both parties to reach an agreement, but as no rapprochement was achieved, the firm formally registered the claim before the ICSID, alleging that Panama did not comply with the terms agreed upon in the Free Trade Agreement signed with Canada.
In its financial statements for the first quarter of 2024, the company indicated that it had already spent 1.5 million dollars on the entire process related to the arbitration it intended to impose against Panama.
The Reuters news agency reported a few days ago that First Quantum spokespeople indicated that during the month of July they would also be registering two arbitration claims against Panama, where they would request more than $20 billion in compensation following the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice that declared, on November 28 of last year, the contract signed by the administration of Laurentino Cortizo and Minera Panama as unconstitutional.
Roderick Gutiérrez, president of the Panamanian Mining Chamber (Camipa), has indicated that the most advisable thing for the country is to reach an agreement with the complaining companies so as not to affect Panama’s image in international markets.
Surprisingly, some of the luxury cars that had mysteriously disappeared from the Colón City Hall – during Alex Lee’s administration (2019-2024) – were returned in recent days.
The information was released by the new mayor of Colón, Diógenes Galván, who stated that 13 of the 28 cars reappeared and are currently in the facilities of the Colón City Hall.
As will be recalled, these vehicles were handed over to the Colón City Hall in the Lee administration, by the Directorate of Administration of Seized Assets of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) . However, Galván denounced that when he entered the local government on July 1, the cars were not there.
“I want to report a little on what is happening: 13 cars have been delivered today. Little by little, the responsibility is being carried out by the people who owned the vehicles,” said the new mayor in a video.
Galván showed brands such as Mercedes, Toyota Fortuner, Honda Accord , Honda CRV , Hyundai Tucson, KIA Optima , among others. In addition, he was critical of the condition of some of the vehicles: “Look at the condition of these cars, the cars are in very bad condition.”
He also announced that a resolution will be made to hand it over to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office, headed by Attorney General Javier Caraballo, issued a statement on the matter. In a statement, it said that it does not have the authority to decide on the use and custody of provisionally seized assets, since they are placed at the disposal of the MEF, until the case is decided by the competent court.
Agents of the National Police and the National Migration Service carried out a raid and search on Wednesday, July 17, in a building in the district of Santa Ana, very close to Plaza 5 de Mayo.
According to the police, this is Operation Luna 2 against the crime of human trafficking, in which the justice of the peace of the district is also participating. Dozens of agents entered the building and searched apartment by apartment.
This place is known for hosting foreigners. Each of the tenants was asked for documents to know their status within the country.
Sixteen people with suspected irregular status were taken away. Of these, 14 are women and 2 men of different nationalities.
Leaders of the Single Union of Construction and Similar Workers (Suntracs) met this Wednesday, July 17, with the President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, and other national authorities. One of the central topics of the meeting was the closure of the bank accounts of this group in the Savings Bank .
At the end of the meeting, Suntracs Secretary General Saúl Méndez mentioned the possibility of reopening an account at the National Bank of Panama .
“We had an account there, but it didn’t really receive deposits,” Méndez explained. “There are some checks that we haven’t been able to deposit in the bank since November, maybe this is the first deposit we make,” he said.
The final decision on this possibility will be made at a meeting of the board of directors of this union leadership. Méndez said that this board could meet this afternoon.
Also present at the meeting were Ministers Jackeline Muñoz (Labor), Juan Carlos Orillac (Presidency) and Frank Ábrego (Public Security).
The National Secretary of Energy, Juan Manuel Urriola , stated that the $14 million fine imposed on the company Naturgy is final and cannot be appealed, thus ensuring that these funds are returned to Panamanian citizens.
As Urriola explained on the program Radiografía , the fine was originally issued in 2013 and later confirmed by the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), but it was now that Zelmar Rodríguez , administrator of the Public Services Authority (ASEP), discovered it “shelved” in files, without this case having the possibility of appeal by Naturgy .
In relation to this case, the Electric Distribution Company Metro-Oeste, SA (EDEMET) and the Electric Distribution Company Chiriquí, SA (EDECHI), both part of the Naturgy group , failed to comply with the current service quality standards in terms of electricity, for which they were fined 14 million dollars.
The quality of service is assessed based on the frequency and duration of interruptions to customers, which must not exceed three minutes, unless due to force majeure or unforeseeable circumstances.
Urriola said that more fines will soon be issued to Naturgy and other distribution companies.
He explained that the authorities are in a preparatory phase to approach the Supreme Court of Justice, before the concession contracts expire in 2028.
“The Court must resolve these cases because otherwise there is a kind of impunity (…) where the distributor thinks that nothing will happen,” Urriola said.
“Even though penalties do not immediately resolve the problems, they send a message of responsibility and can influence the renewal of contracts,” said Urriola.
Regarding the $14 million fine, EDECHI and EDEMET have been ordered to apply a credit in favor of their clients affected by failure to provide quality service, in the order of $3.6 million and $10.7 million, respectively.