The Miami Herald is reporting that a former Senator Menendez aide by the name of Pablo Pedro Permuy stands to benefit should the ICSSI port security contract be approved. ICSSI is a security company that Dr. Salamon Melgen (a top donor to the Senator and currently under FBI investigations) acquired back in 2006.

The company would provide security measures and checkpoints along seaports in the Dominican in attempts to stem narcotic traffic. The contract, which could be worth as much as $1 billion in over two decades, was pushed by Senator Menendez in Senate hearings last August. The hearings were titled “Doing Business in Latin America”.

In a request for an interview by New York Times, Mr. Permuy stated that he was not an employee or a board member of ICSSI.

However, Dr. Melgen’s cousin and lawyer, Vinicio Castillo Seman said in a press statement that Mr. Permuy would be an executive with the company. When pushed, Mr. Seman said this, “[Permuy] will run operations.”

Mr. Permuy worked for then Congressman Menendez from 1993-1995 as a Senior Legislative Aide, and again in the Senate from 2001-2003 as the Senator’s National Security Adviser. Mr. Permuy was also a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State within the Clinton Administration.