A WITNESS whose identity is being protected by the Public Prosecutor's Office gave statements to Telemetro on Monday, November 17 about the abuses in the National Assistance Program under the previous administration an identified members of ex presidenr Ricardo Martinelli's inner circle.

The witness said former PAN directors Giacomo Tamburrelli and Rafeal Guardia Jaén stole millions of dollars from the program in the form of bribes and fraudulent contracts. The witness also implicated Chichi Adolfo de Obarrio, the Private Secretary to former President Ricardo Martinelli, as the facilitator of the bribes.
The witness said that Tamburrelli (2009-2012) amassed a fortune of at least $100 million, while his replacement, Guardia Jaén (2012-2014) stole $30 million.
According to the witness, Guardia Jaén demanded bribes of 10 percent to 15 percent from companies receiving contracts from the agency, which handled about $700 million while he was in office. These bribes were funneled through the Presidency of the Republic, and Adolfo de Obarrio was in charge of receiving the cash and distributing it.
One of the most corrupt programs was the purchase of food bags, which were distributed during the campaign by government candidates. The PAN program purchased 2 million bags for $55 million.
According to the witness, Penonomé businessman Juan Carlos Marciaga "was a partner of Chichi in the food bags." Marciaga provided no less than 10,000 of the bags, many of which were never even delivered to PAN.
Gaby Btesh, a close associate of Martinelli, was also implicated as charging the program extremely high rates to transport the food bags.
Btesh also allegedly sold PAN items at huge cost overruns, including products that PAN did not even request.
"Everything was managed with this atmosphere of fear, threats and terror by Obarrio Chichi," said the source.
Chichi at 28 was leading a modest life style, when he first worked for Martinelli, but then moved into The Trump Tower and pursued a lavish lifestyle
Meanwhile Guardia Jaen, arrested earlier in the day was moved to a jail cell under preventative detention