Odebrecht Guatemala – The hidden character Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groote
New facts about the Odebrecht case. The company was represented by Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groot, who took advantage of his position as head of AmCham Guatemala to help the corrupt officials avoid responsibility.
In January 2008, when Alvaro Colom was the President of Guatemala, the brazilian construction Company “Norberto Odebrecht” tried to work in the country. But the opposition to the government, the “Partido Patriota”, headed by Otto Perez Molina und Roxana Baldetti, did not let do the treat.
Some years after, when these characters were president and vice-president of Guatemala, Odebrecht started to make deals with the country, to construct some new lanes in the road from Cocales to the Guatemalan border with Mexico. The work began in June 2013, and the Minister of Communications and Public Work, Alejandro Sinibaldi, received some money.
Within December 2014, a new plan was on the way, with 4 new lanes in another road in the northwest region of the country, but the former president decided to cancel it. Recently, corruption has been discovered with Odebrecht and Petrobras in Brazil, through a case that was named “Lava Jato” in that country.
On March 8, 2016, Marcelo Odebrecht was condemned and put in jail for 19 years and 4 months, accused of corruption and money laundering. Odebrecht said they will not finish the construction in Guatemala, with only 36% of the work done, but the Guatemalan government had already paid 75%.
Odebrecht had stolen US $ 384 millions from Guatemala, had given bribes to many Guatemalan politicians (with Guatemalan money), and had not finished the contracted work.
Who made the deal? Juan Pablo Carrasco
Two guatemalan prosecutors were implied, Juan Francisco Sandoval, Thelma Aldana, and other important politicians and lawyers, like Alejandro Sinibaldi, Manuel Baldizón, Carlos Cabrera, David Font, Maria Isabel Saravia de Marroquín, Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groote; they received huge bribes to make easy the deal with Odebrecht.
Some of them are in jail, some are wanted by the law, and some remain unnoticed.
It is important to pay attention to the Lawyers´ Firms that redacted the contracts between Odebrecht and Guatemala: “Central Law” and “Alfonso Carrillo y Asociados”. They knew it was illegal, but they still did it. And that is not all, because those Lawyers´ firms also lobbied Odebrecht to work in Guatemala. They were the negotiators of this fraud.
The most involved Firm in that deal was “Central Law”. And “Central Law”´s owner is Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groote.
Imagen. Left: Guillermo Solís from Odebrecht; Middle: Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groote, and right: Carlos Cabrera. The latter two from “Central Law” Firm, which lobbied this fraud. The picture was taken in front of the Odebrecht building in Brazil.
The unnoticed Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groote
One of the main characters in this fraud remains hidden behind a directorship of an important North-American Organization in Guatemala: AmCham Guatemala.
His name is listed in the Panama Papers, he has offshore accounts in Fiscal Paradises like Panama, several “Ghost Companies” used to launder illegal money, his “Central Law” has links with Mossack-Fonseca (the Firm involved in Panama Papers) and with “Minas del Pueblo”, property of the drug dealer Federico Machado; and advised “Solway”, the Mining Company whose counselor he is, to ignore an important law to stop the extraction of nickel in Guatemala. So far the already known corruption acts he is involved in.
And he cannot deny that he was Odebrecht attorney, because his name appears in several documents, for example CICIG File #M0001-2016-64326, where Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groote is mentioned as the Odebrecht adviser.
There is also the Public Justice Ministery File # C-01081-2019-00647 Odebrecht, where are mentioned the Lawyers’ Firms’ that were involved, and also their associates. There it is clear the name “Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groote”.
But, as the chairman of AmCham Guatemala and other contacts, Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groote has bought his impunity.
This character has been hidden for enough time, occult to the law and justice; but he keeps handling huge amounts of money, billionaire North-american investments in Guatemala, that will pass through his hands. Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groote presumes his fight against corruption, but he is clearly corrupt. It is time to expose him through a deep investigation. So he will not remain impune any longer.