Former Va. official admits paying bribes

[Judi Lynn]

Former Va. official admits paying bribes
By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
© November 14, 2009
RICHMOND

A one-time adviser to former Gov. George Allen pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges of bribing officials of Panama in exchange for contracts to clean that country's lighthouses and buoys and lying to federal agents about it.

Charles Paul Edward Jumet, 53, of Fluvanna County admitted in federal court in Richmond that from 1997, right after he left the Allen administration, through 2003 he and others paid more than $200,000 in bribes to Panamanian government officials. Jumet admitted that he paid the secret bribes to obtain lucrative contracts to operate and maintain Panama's lighthouses and buoys in the waterways in and near the Panama Canal.

An unidentified co-conspirator in the case is listed in court filings as the president of Overman Associates, a former Virginia Beach engineering firm. Jumet is listed as the company's vice president as well as president of his own company, Ports Engineering Consultants Corp. in Richmond.

Recent Panamanian news reports linked bribes in 1997 between Jumet, his co-conspirators and former Panama President Ernesto Perez
Balladares and his underlings. The allegations led, in part, to Perez Balladares' ouster in 1998. The reports said Perez Balladares was given a stake in Jumet's PECC company.

More:
http://hamptonroads.com.nyud.net/2009/11/former-va-official-admits-paying-bribes