corruption

Judge’s nephew faces fraud charges

DAVID MESA/LA PRENSA

headquarters:This family home housed one of the Panama Canal´s largest supplier of electronic equipment.982358

Tello Spadafora, the nephew of former Supreme Court Winston Spadafora, is under investigation by the Autoridad del Canal de Panama (ACP) for rigging contracts.

Authorities have accused Spadafadora of defrauding ACP of almost $700,000.

The ACP completed an internal report on the fraudulent activities in 2007. That report has now been forwarded to anti-corruption prosecutors.

The case revolves around TPM Suppliers, a company that received 261 contracts worth almost $700,000 from the ACP between March 2005 and May 2007.

The ACP report alleges that Tello Spadafora, an ACP employee, was using his job to gain access to information about items that were going to be tendered.

He e-mailed that information to Luis Pinto, his partner in TPM Suppliers, who would then purchase those items abroad.

The alleged scam progressed to the point that Tello Spadafora leaked to Pinto a copy of the entire operating budget for 2006-2007. This included the authority's electrical maintenance schedule for the period and the exact details of the supplies that would be ordered.

Once TPM Suppliers had the information, they could purchase the parts and then sell them to the Canal.

The company allegedly paid Tello Spadafora using credit cards from family and friends. To avoid competition, Tello Spadafora rigged the bidding process so that competitors would not have time to procure the parts that were required. Since his company knew what was required ahead of time, it was the only company that could provide the parts.

What raised the suspicions of investigators was the fact that TPM Suppliers had no other contracts outside of the ones it received from the ACP. They were also suspicious of TPM's headquarters, which was in a family home in the residential area of Parque Lefebre. It hardly seemed like a logical place to house one of the ACP's largest contractors.

Today, Tello Spadafora reports to work at the ACP just like any other employee. Despite the criminal charges that seem likely, he has not been suspended or dismissed. He has, however, been transferred out of the procurement department and has had his computer taken away.

Since that transfer, TPM Suppliers has not received any more ACP contracts.