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Articles about the sons of Martinelli will now be found here https://chiriqui.life/topic/17753-martinelli-sons-for-trial-in-usa/

The "New Business" trial involving Martinelli & others can be found here https://chiriqui.life/topic/19951-new-business-trial/

Also see https://chiriqui.life/topic/7880-“blue-apple”-corruption-scandal for more postings involving the Martinelli family, especially the two Martinelli sons.

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Identifican más transacciones sospechosas en el proceso seguido a los Martinelli Linares en Nueva York

Mónica Palm
21 jul 2020 - 11:21 PM

https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/identifican-mas-transacciones-sospechosas-en-el-proceso-seguido-a-los-martinelli-linares-en-ny/

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FBI piles on details of Martinelli sons laundering probe

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Posted 22/07/2020

The United States FBI continues  to provide more details of suspicious  financial transactions by Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, the  sons of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli who face charges  in New York of alleged conspiracy to launder Odebrecht money,  and are in Guatemala fighting a US extradition request.

FBI Special Agent Michael Lewandowski lists four financial transactions, in a document he submitted to the court on Monday, July 20, which is an amendment to the original complaint filed on June 27. Nine days later, the brothers were detained in Guatemala, at the request of the United States, as they attempted to board a  controversial“humanitariant flight to Panama on their father’s private jet. Since then, they have been held in  a military prison for their eventual extradition to the United States.

According to the document signed by Lewandowski, these transactions were carried out, "knowingly that they represented the product of some illegal activity" and with the intention of concealing their nature, source and beneficiary.

It details that on November 12 and December 10, 2013, the two brothers transferred $899,978.32 and $30,887.21,  from a financial institution  in Switzerland to a U.S. bank with correspondent accounts in New York.

Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares is also credited with two transfers: one, on February 11, 2013, for $346,500, and another, on August 26, 2015, for $570.000 thousand, both made from a Swiss bank to a US bank with correspondent accounts in New York, and from there - finally - to accounts in New Jersey and Florida.

The FBI handles information from a New York broker that shows that the $346,500 transferred by Luis Enrique on February 11, 2013, is part of the payment for the purchase of a yacht.

Property transaction records    indicate that the $570,000  tranfer  corresponds to the payment of an apartment in Miami , Florida, for a company, for the benefit of Luis Enrique.

The transfers would have been channeled through offshore companies incorporated in foreign jurisdictions, such as the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.

In total, the two  accused sons reportedly participated as "intermediaries" in bribery payments totaling $28 million, "under the leadership of Odebrecht," according to the original complaint that the FBI delivered to the court on April 27. In June. The monies would have benefited a Panamanian public servant, whose name is not listed at the moment in the US indictment, but who is described as "an officer with a very high position in the Panamanian government"  … and a “close relative” of the two accused between 2009 and 2014 – a period corresponding to the presidential mandate of  Martinelli.

The indictment remains sealed "until second order", at the request of the FBI and by order of Judge Robert M. Levy. The US Department of Justice reported that the brothers each face a charge of allegedly conspiring to launder money as a result of the bribes Odebrecht confessed to having paid in Panama. All payments would have occurred between August 2009 and September 2015, and not until January 2014, as the FBI originally reported to the judge.

Of the $28 million paid in bribes; $19 million was transferred using accounts in correspondent banks in the United States, the majority in New York.

In Panama, the former president and his two children are required for investigation by the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office , which since 2017 investigates the bribes that Odebrecht paid in the country. The Second Superior Court of Justice benefited the children with bonds of $ 2 million each. As for the father, he has not attended an investigation and the last thing that was known is that he presented a medical disability for 60 days, in force until the beginning of September.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/fbi-piles-on-details-of-martinelli-sons-laundering-probe

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Martinelli gets psychiatric check  as problems mount

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Posted 22/07/2020

When a psychiatrist with close ties to former president Ricardo Martinelli signed  a 60-day disability certificate one of the reasons he gave was that his patient was under stress after the news that his sons had been arrested in Guatemala and were facing extradition to the United States to face  money laundering charges linked to  Brazilian Oderbrecht company bribes.

On Tuesday, July 21 Martinelli went  to the headquarters of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Imelcf) for a psychiatric evaluation by doctors of the medical center, in compliance with an order from the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office.

That same day the FBI  released more details of the alleged $28 million laundering scheme while his sons rest behind bars in a military prison.

The Panama prosecution asked the Imelcf to carry out an evaluation of the ex-president's physical and mental health after he - on July 2 and 3 - presented a medical certificate for not appearing in an investigative stage in the investigations for alleged money laundering. related to the activities of Odebrecht and New Business.

The first disability presented to the Public Ministry was signed by cardiologist Gabriel Frago, but then -on July 12- he presented a new disability for 60 days, signed by the psychiatrist Algis Torres, partisan and former director of health of San Miguelito during his government.

According to the disability, the ex-president presents a psychiatric picture that prevents him from doing his usual tasks.

Martinelli was accompanied to the evaluation by attorneys Shirley Castañedas and Jessica Canto, who are part of his extensive legal team.

Sources from the Public Ministry confirmed to La Prensa that the Imelcf carried out a physical and psychiatric evaluation of Martinelli and that in the next few days it must send an opinion determining whether he can face the investigative procedure.

Meanwhile, the pressures continue to build as his name again cropped up in a New Business hearing and the FBI piled on more charges against his sons whose alleged laundering activities were during the time he was president (2009-14).

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/martinelli-gets-psychiatric-check-as-problems-mount

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Lawyers for Martinelli brothers have clouded resumes

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Posted 22/07/2020

Two of the six   lawyers hired in Guatemala  to help   the sons of former president  Ricardo Martinelli fight extradition, to the United States  to face money laundering charges have resumes that include investigations into  their  own alleged  laundering activities.

Luis Eduardo Camacho , spokesman for the former president,  has   named the team that  will endeavor to prevent  Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares facing  US justice

Camacho said  that the team consists of Byron Manuel Santos Galindo , Bárbara Mabel Rosas Solares , Denis Cuesy Lessing, Mónica Rodríguez, Nicky Aguilar and Juan Carlos Borrayo.

Santos Galindo is a retired army  colonel who was arrested and accused of money laundering in May 2017 when they found him $50,862 in cash, when  his residence was raided as part of the investigation into the prison escape of notoriou killer Marixa Lemus , aka “ La Patrona”.

Months later, the Ninth Criminal Court closed the process in favor of the lawyer and released him.

Rosas Solares surrendered to justice after the October 25, 2018, the Office of the Prosecutor against Money Laundering coordinated a search of an office building and found  a safe with a suitcase containing $510,000 in $ 20 bills. The Sixth Criminal Court of First Instance decided to criminally prosecute Rosas Solares - then defender of Jonathan Chévez , alleged money launderer of  jailed   former Guatemala VP Roxana Baldetti. the status of the process is uncertain.

Family plane
The brothers were detained on July 6, when they were trying to leave the country on a “humanitarian” flight to Panama  on  a plane owned by their father.

Former Health Minister Rosario Turner had reportedly refused permission for the flight to land in Panama  and was abruptly replaced by President Nito Cortizo

The process for the extradition of the Martinelli Linares is on hold because their lawyers filed an Amparo in which they required time to request the credentials from Parlacen, as both were elected as alternate deputies of although they were fugitives living in the United States.

A lot of lawyers  in three countries will be padding their wallets in the coming months.
 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/lawyers-for-martinelli-brothers-have-clouded-resumes

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Prosecutor rejects Martinelli bullet-dodging ploy

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Posted 23/07/2020

The Specialized Prosecutor's Office against Organized Crime, investigating ex-President Ricardo Martinelli) in the New Business case,  has rejected the brief presented by the ex- president's legal team, in which he invoked the principle of specialty - stated in the treaty on extradition of 1904,  between Panama and the United States - to avoid the investigation.

Emeldo Márquez, the specialized prosecutor against organized crime, argued that the Public Ministry (MP) has a constitutional and legal obligation to prosecute crimes, for which it must practice all those summary proceedings that are pertinent and useful to verify the existence of the punishable act , and identify those responsible reports La Prensa

The argument
In a document issued on July 15, signed by Márquez, and Joselyn Jaén, judicial secretary, the prosecutor argued that "procedural aspects related to the final legal situation of each of the accused must be examined in the next stage of the criminal process and not during the investigative phase. "

Márquez also cited the considerations of the Eighteenth Criminal Court - today the Third Court for the Settlement of Criminal Cases - that argued that the investigation was declared complex by the Second Superior Court of Justice on November 14, 2017.

That court, according to Márquez analyzed the characteristics on which this case is based on a plurality of the facts investigated, which in turn have transnational features since several of the money transfers were made from foreign jurisdictions. The prosecutor also noted that the file "handles a large number of related persons" and, , pondered the seriousness of the crime under investigation: money laundering.

So far Martinelli has not testified in this case. He was summoned for investigation on July 2, but that day presented a disability certidicate  issued by cardiologist Gabriel Frago. He used article 25 of the Constitution, which says that no one is obliged to testify against himself in a criminal, correctional or police matter and brought up the principle of specialty.

The next day, he presented another incapacity not to testify in the Odebrecht case, and days later he presented another one for not attending the judicial processes for two months. signed by the psychiatrist Algis Torres, who was Director of the San Miguelito Health Region, during his tenure.

For the New Business case, the prosecution imposed country arrest  and monthly reporting

 Martinelli insists on the application of the specialty principle, although the US - through its embassy in Panama and the State Department - has indicated that this principle is no longer in force because the former president has traveled outside of Panama since September of 2019. Leaving the country is one of the exceptions to the specialty principle, as stated in the 1904 bilateral treaty.

New Business
The prosecution is investigating about 40 people for alleged money laundering in transactions with public money for the acquisition of Grupo Editorial Panamá América.

According to the Public Ministry, the New Business company served as a "basket" to accumulate at least $43.9 million, to acquire the publisher, when Martinelli was president.

On Tuesday, July 21, Martinelli went to the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences for a psychiatric evaluation by doctors of that medical center, in compliance with an order from the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, in the Odebrecht case. The prosecution asked for  an evaluation of his physical and mental health after he presented medical certificates not to appear for inquiries.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/prosecutor-rejects-martinelli-bullet-dodging-ploy

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Fugitive Martinelli Brothers Slither Into Den Of Thieves

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Posted 23/07/2020

he  fugitive sons  of former president Ricardo Martinelli will be sworn in as alternate deputies to Central American Parliament (Parlacen)-  famously described by their father,  who sought to withdraw Panama  from the body as a “den of thieves”.

The move is part of their strategy to avoid extradition to the United States to face money laundering charges which if proved would earn them long jail sentences.

The board of directors of  the regional body has ordered  the Panamanian bench to swear in Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, as alternate deputies  although they have been on the run in the United States since  their “election”

It is unknown when and how that act would be since within the bench there would be no consensus yet to carry out the swearing-in.

The instruction is contained in a note that the Guatemalan Carlos Rafael Fion Morales, secretary of the board of directors, sent on  Tuesday, July 21, to Panamanian parliamentarians Gilberto Succari and Cirilo Salas who are also vice president and secretary -respectively- of the Parlacen board representing the Panamanian bench.

According to that letter, the Martinelli Linares brothers asked to be sworn in in a note dated July 10, four days after being arrested at the La Aurora airport in Guatemala, where Parlacen is located.

Since then, they have been detained in a military prison , awaiting extradition to the US, where they will face charges of conspiracy to launder money linked to Odebrecht.

Parlacen deputies must be sworn in by the organization's president, in a plenary session, after obtaining the "favorable opinion" from the "extraordinary credentials commission" reports  La Prensa But the swearing-in the fugitive sons  -according to the note from the deputy Fion Morales would be done in accordance with article 19 of the Parlacen Internal Regulations, which states: “ As exceptional cases, the swearing-in of alternate deputies can be carried out by the members of the board of directors of the respective State, in a national bench session, and the corresponding administrative act must be drawn up, which must be sent immediately to the president of Parlacen.”

Since their arrest, Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique have alleged violations of their alleged parliamentary immunity.

Until now, the Palace has not spoken publicly about the situation of the brothers despite the fact that at the time of their arrest in La Aurora, both brought out a signed document, signed, by Fion Morales, which certifies that the credentials issued by the Electoral Tribunal of Panama, certify them as substitute deputies of Parlacen for the period 2019-2024, have been in the agency's files since 2019.

In the May 2019 elections, Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique were chosen as substitutes for the main deputies Carlos Outten and Héctor Abdiel Valderrama.

The extradition process of the brothers is currently paralyzed, because of the temporary closure of the courts due to coronavirus cases in their facilities.

The US Department of Justice claims the Martinelli Linares brothers for allegedly participating as intermediaries" in receiving and paying bribes of $28 million, from Odebrecht.

" The payments would have benefited a Panamanian official, whose name has not been noted in the documents released so far, however, this official is described as "an officer with a very high position in the Panamanian government, and “a close family member” between 2009 and 2014, a period that corresponds to the mandate of  Ricardo Martinelli.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/fugitive-martinelli-brothers-slither-into-den-of-thieves

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Swearing-in of fugitive Martinelli brothers would weaken Parlacen

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Posted 24/07/2020

Manuel Castillero, an independent Panama deputy in Parlacen says that the swearing-in  to the regional body of the fugitive sons of former president Ricardo Martinelli as alternate deputies would weaken its image

After learning that the board of directors s of the regional body issued instructions for Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares to be sworn in at a session of the Panamanian caucus Castillero said he would abstain from the meeting   as the move  “ “would further weaken the credibility and image of this parliament, which has been strongly questioned and is necessary to achieve the highest and noblest objectives that they give us origin to serve as a forum for deliberation and proposal ”.

Castillero, in a note addressed to the Guatemalan Nadia De León Torres, president of Parlacen, said he would abstain from participating in the session, which must be convened by Gilberto Succari and Cirilo Salas who have not spoken publicly about it and it is unknown when the swearing-in would take place and how it would be carried out, since the brothers in the Mariscal Zavala military prison in Guatemala since they were arrested on July 6. The US Department of Justice has requested them in extradition, for alleged conspiracy to launder money linked to Odebrecht.

Impunity move
In a letter Castillero points out that, "both alternates could be using the regulations to once again open spaces for impunity at the convenience of only the beneficiaries."

Although in Panama the mere fact of being a substitute deputy confers significant judicial benefits, according to article 2 of the San Salvador Protocol of 2008, “Each holder will be elected with their respective substitute, who will replace them in the event of a vacancy or absence. .. ” That is to say, the substitutes only have these prerogatives when the Parlacen meets and the holder does not appear (absence) or if there is the abandonment, resignation, death or loss of the position of the principal (vacancy) writes Rodrigo Noriega in La Prensa.

Since there are none of these situations, the legal effect is not generated in Guatemala. Furthermore, in a procedural principle called Perpetuatio Jurisdictions, disrespected in Panama, the jurisdiction of the court is not lost if the personal situation of the accused changes. The two Panamanians were detained as mere civilians; The fact that they later become alternate deputies should have no effect on their extradition process, except to extend their duration.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/swearing-in-of-fugitive-martinelli-brothers-would-weaken-parlacen-image-1

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Panama’s family monarchy

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On the road to Damascus?

Posted 24/07/2020

Overnight, a family wants to turn Panama into a monarchy, in which the rule is "the State is us". The global shame to which the country has been subjected for its actions in a dark five-year period has not been enough, so now it is intended that the President of the Republic and the Minister of Foreign Relations should use the little political capital of Panama, to demand Guatemala Guatemala hand  over two people who fled from the United States.

 What kind of historical aberration do they intend to carry out? Panamanians are very clear that these people already had their passport for judicial immunity, having received bonds in absentia, without having been investigated, and even safe-conducts to move throughout the country in the midst of the pandemic.

They have authorized a humanitarian flight, with an additional passenger to the allegedly authorized.

They had five years to come to justice without privileges or shields. No one believes that now, in the face of serious FBI allegations in federal court in New York, they have seen the light on their way to Damascus. Stop impunity and stop smearing the name of Panama - LA PRENSA, Jul 24

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/panamas-family-monarchy

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Swearing-in of fugitives reveals Parlacen purpose

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Posted 25/07/2020

The Guatemala representative of  Transparency International, Manfredo Marroquín, said on Friday, July 24 that the proposed swearing-in as alternate deputies of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) of brothers Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, detained at the request of the United States for their extradition to face money laundering charges lacks common sense.

In an interview with La Prensa, Marroquín,, alleged that "what is being forged to swear in the Martinelli is a  phony ploy  , because to be immunity holders, they had to have been in office before requesting extradition.

"We now see what Parlacen is for: to create legal subterfuges in favor of impunity and corruption in the region," said Marroquín. (ex-Panama president Ricardo Martinelli in a campaign speech labeled Parlacen “a den of thieves”  and promised to withdraw Panama from the regional body).

In the opinion of  Marroquín, this legal trick will not be valid before a jury, since obviously immunity is being sought by questionable means.

In addition, the swearing-in would have to be done virtually and for this, a judicial authorization would be needed to allow them access to a computer to hold a meeting with the Panamanian bench in Parlacen and brothers are in prison at the Mariscal Zavala military prisons in Guatemala.

The virtual oath would be practically the only alternative that the brothers would have to achieve their objective.

Carmen Ibarra, from the Pro Justice Movement of Guatemala, considered that an oath before Parlacen at this time would constitute a clear attempt to evade justice.

On  RPC Radio, she stressed that legal tricks can lead to this extradition process being delayed for months and could even end in the inter-American justice system.

The El Salvador bench in Parlacen expressed its opposition to the swearing-in of the Martinelli Linares brothers, particularly at this time.

Salvadoran deputy Irma Amaya reported that, during a meeting held on Friday, a consensus was reached regarding opposing the swearing-in of both in prison. She explained that a decision like this, just at a time when they are linked to a judicial process in the United States, would send a bad message.

This week the Parlacen board of directors, c issued instructions to the Panamanian bench to proceed with the swearing-in of the brothers.

In a note sent to Gilberto Succari and Cirilo Salas, vice president and secretary of the Parlacen board of directors, they were informed that they must comply with a procedure based on regulations of the body: “ As exceptional cases, the swearing-in of the alternate deputies may be carried out by the members of the board of directors of the respective State, in a session of the national bench, and the corresponding administrative act must be drawn up, which must be sent immediately to the president of the Parlacen”.

The brothers have been held in Guatemala since July 6, after the US Department of Justice requested their extradition, due to a criminal complaint by the FBI for money laundering linked to Odebrecht.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/swearing-in-of-fugitives-reveals-parlacen-purpose-1

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Fugitive sons bolt hole  blocked

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The would be escape route

Posted 25/07/2020

The odds of the fugitive sons of ex-Martinelli escaping US justice through a bolt hole in what their father once called  “A  den of thieves” got longer on Saturday, July 25 after the  Deputies of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) in the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) announced that they oppose the swearing-in of the brothers as alternate deputies in the regional talk box.

“It is our criterion to oppose the swearing-in of Messrs. Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, at a time when the jurisdictional authority intervenes since it does not favor the desired transparency that the Central American Parliament must have as a profile; taking care that the correct actions of its members are worthy and honorable for the position of Central American Deputy, "said the statement from the PRD bench.

Among the points in the statement carried by the signature of Amado Cerrud,  coordinator of the caucus, it is indicated that Parlacen has been making efforts so that the actions will benefit the Central American population, "this means ignoring any action that generates distrust in the population that we represent.

"We categorically reject that the body is used or is intended to be used as a tool of judicial deviation and that the prerogatives are used for purposes other than merely parliamentary functions," says the bench note.

The only independent deputy had already  announced that he would not support the swearing-in

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/fugitive-sons-bolt-hole-blocked

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Martinelli wields $10 million club against prosecutor

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Posted 26/07/2020

 While the sons of ex-president Ricardo  Martinelli in Guatemala are fighting to avoid extradition to the US to face money laundering charges in an FBI Odebrecht bribery investigation that implicate  “a  high ranking person and  close family connection” during his reign (2009-2014) , he has filed at least six legal actions against anti-corruption prosecutor Tania Sterling, who is investigating him for his alleged participation in the same plot.

There   are  two criminal complaints against the Attorney General's Office in which he claims $10 million  for alleged "moral, psychological, commercial, business, social, family and political damage."

In the first, on July 2, attorney Shirley Castañeda alleges that Sterling issued an order of investigation on June 30, against Martinelli, for the alleged money laundering, when days before they had filed an unconstitutionality appeal before the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, using the specialty principle contemplated in the extradition treaty between the US  and Panama.

The second criminal complaint was filed on July 9 by a trio of Martinelli lawyers claiming that Sterling would have committed an abuse of authority and breach of the duties of public servants by ordering a forensic medical evaluation on July 10, which sought to determine whether or not Martinelli presents clinical signs of acute or chronic pathology. This, after on July 8, the former leader presented a medical disability certificate, of two days duration.

On July 10, a challenge against the prosecutor  was placed before the Twelfth Criminal Court, alleging that she "abuses her position by ignoring the medical incapacity of the former president."

Earlier, on July 2, Martinelli's defense presented before the same court another challenge against Sterling, on the grounds that the prosecutor had participated in evaluation with the team of lawyers of the American firm Foley Hoag as part of the Martinelli's extradition process from the United States, on June 11, 2018.

The challenges seek that judge Óscar Carrasquilla declare that there is an impediment for the prosecutor to continue to lead the investigations.

Martinelli has also gone to the Attorney General, Eduardo Ulloa, to filed a complaint against Sterling on July 9, 2020, for ordering the forensic evaluation. 

Oher Demands
Other former officials of the justice system in the sights of  Martinelli are the former attorney general  Kenia Porcell and the two former magistrates of the Supreme Court who took part in his wiretapping probe: Harry Díaz, as prosecutor, and Jerónimo Mejía, as judge of guarantees

On July 9, the Judicial Branch ordered a seizure of property in the Porcell residence, as part of an investigation requested by Martinelli. She stopped that action by posting a bond of $150,000

Sterling has been a key player in the Odebrecht case, a file that has more than a thousand volumes and involves several characters who worked in the Martinelli administration says La Prensa.

Of the group of prosecutors who initially worked,  on the case only she and Ruth Morcillo remain, since Ulloa gave Zuleyka Moore other functions on May 25, alleging that he wanted the citizens and the legal community to understand that the work of the Public Ministry was done with objectivity.

Sources of the Public Ministry say the Martinelli actions will be processed but stressed that prosecutors have a legal and constitutional obligation to prosecute crime.

T his was the same argument given by the prosecutor Emeldo Márquez, who is investigating Martinelli in the New Business case, when on July 15 he decided to reject a letter from Martinelli's defense that alleged that he was protected by the principle of a specialty that, if applied, meant that the former president could only be investigated in Panama for wiretapping, for which he was extradited from the US. He was declared "not guilty". The sentence was appealed.

The US  has communicated to the Public Ministry that the principle, based on a 1904 bilateral treaty, is no longer applicable to Martinelli because he has traveled outside of Panama since September 2019.

Meanwhile, the shadow of his son's extradition to the US and the opening of the FBI files revealing names of their connections in in his administration still loom.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/martinelli-wields-10-million-club-against-prosecutor

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Parlacen - symbol of regional impunity

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Ricardo Martinelli ubder investigation was sworn in, but later renounced as a legal ploy

Posted 26/07/2020

From no point of view is the opportunistic claim of the two sons of former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli to be sworn in as alternate deputies of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen)  credible to try to achieve impunity after being detained by Guatemalan security forces in the La Aurora airport, due to an extradition request from the United States for alleged money laundering, which could be part of the bribe received by their father from the ill-fated Brazilian firm Odebrecht,

The Parlacen has long been considered a bland, costly and dysfunctional body, but without a doubt the biggest aggravating factor lies in the convenient immunity that its deputies enjoy, a prerogative that has caused numerous controversies. This organism has not managed to promote a single transcendental initiative but it has become a symbol of regional impunity.

Suffice it to cite the case of former President Martinelli, who, as a candidate, said in May 2009 to La Prensa de Panamá: "The Parlacen, I have always said, has not represented any added value for Panama ... on the contrary, every time we have a scandal, it  involves someone from the Parlacen” As part of his campaign offers, he said that he would withdraw his country from it, something that he obviously did not do and, worse still, he sought refuge when he assumed as a deputy in 2014, just when he was beginning to be investigated for multiple cases of corruption.

Many are the legal pretexts that have been brought to prevent the closure of this repository of sterile seats but that represent a monthly salary of around $3,500 for each deputy, in a region plagued by development needs and precariousness in public services . Until now, there has not been a Guatemalan president - nor of any country - with sufficient moral integrity and political capacity to undertake the withdrawal of such an unproductive hubris

In 2008, an unofficial reform of the Parlacen Treaty established that ex-rulers of member countries automatically become deputies upon leaving office, which provides them with free immunity. A court in El Salvador considered such jurisdiction illegal, since they did not come to office by popular vote, and Honduran justice raised a similar question. And it is that in addition to the salary for doing nothing, such legal protection constitutes one of the main hooks for those who are running as candidates or for all the ex-presidents who without uneasiness have sought to enter it, as happened with the swearing-in of former President Jimmy Morales, carried out in the last minutes of January 14, with the assistance of former vice-president Alfonso Fuentes Soria,

Martinelli's sons now provide the best evidence that the Central American ideal of union is only a pretext. Already detained, they officially asked to be sworn in, even by videoconference, from the detention center where they are located. For this nonsense, they need the complicity of the Panamanian caucus and of every representative who is silent in the face of this new insult to the intelligence and the right sense of justice of the Central American citizens tired of this useless waste of funds - PRENSA LIBRE,  Guatemala. July 26

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/parlacen-symbol-of-regional-impunity

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Firmas para sacar a Panamá del Parlacen

Ciudadanos recogen firmas para pedirle a Cortizo que retire al país del foro. La bancada panameña comunica que no juramentará a los Martinelli Linares.
 
Aminta Bustamante
28 jul 2020 - 12:25 AM

https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/firmas-para-sacar-a-panama-del-parlacen/

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Hermanos Martinelli Linares piden libertad, porque ‘son diputados’

Aminta Bustamante
28 jul 2020 - 12:20 AM

https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/hermanos-piden-libertad-porque-son-diputados/

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Panama Parlacen bench rejects swearing-in Martinelli fugitive sons

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The fugitives await extradition hearing

Posted 27/07/2020

The hopes of the fugitive brothers Ricardo and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares of sheltering from US justice under the umbrella of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) have likely evaporated after the board of directors of the regional body, based in Guatemala, was informed that the Panamanian bench will not swear them in as alternate deputies.

The sons of former president Ricardo Martinelli are detained in Guatemala at the request of the United States, for alleged money linked to Odebrecht. Their father is under investigation in Panama in the Odebrecht bribery scandal and a clutch of other corruption cases

"We will not do it because of the special characteristics of this case, because the interested parties are retained in the host country and because carrying out this act requires effective information on the status and specific condition of the alternate deputies. a task that we have asked us to surrender the headquarters, " said Gilberto Sucari, vice president of Parlacen-Panama, in a note addressed to the board.

The PRD bench an independent deputy and three deputies of the CD Party, founded by the fugitives’ father had already refused to support their swearing-in.

Recently, the Parlacen board of directors issued instructions for the Panamanian bench to swear in the Martinelli Linares brothers as alternate deputies.

The instruction is contained in a note that the Guatemalan Carlos Rafael Fion Morales, secretary of the board of directors, sent last Tuesday, July 21, to Panamanian parliamentarians Gilberto Succari and Cirilo Salas. Succari and Salas are also vice president and secretary -respectively- of the Parlacen board of directors, representing the Panamanian bench.

Succari informs in the note of this Monday that, he summoned the Panamanian bench to inform it of the instruction issued by the Parlacen directive. "Even though the swearing-in, as an administrative act does not require any vote, it was in our interest to know the opinion of our deputies," he said in the letter.

He added that "to give more security to this issue" they requested a meeting with Fion Morales, with the Panamanian bench, via Zoom, but it did not happen. "This discussion was essential for us."

Since their arrest, Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique have alleged violations of their alleged parliamentary immunity and on Monday were attempting a last gasp appeal to  a Justice of the Peace to confirm it and order their “immediate release”

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/panama-parlacen-bench-rejects-swearing-in-martinelli-fugitive-sons

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US State  Department knocks  Parlacen impunity cloak

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Posted 28/07/2020

Using the Central American Parliament (Parlacen)  to avoid extradition to the United States "would damage the rule of law and promote impunity in the region," said the US  Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Michael Kozak  on Tuesday, July 28.

"Individuals within Parlacen would like to use membership as a shield to block the extradition to the United States of accused criminals," Kozak wrote on his Twitter. The message was retweeted by the US embassy in Panama.

Kozak did  not mention the Martinelli Linares brothers,  who are currently behind bars in Guatemala, awaiting extradition to the United States, on charges of alleged conspiracy to launder money linked to Odebrecht.

They have asked to be sworn- in as alternate deputies of Parlacen, and have claimed that their detention violates the "immunity" of the members of that body. The Panamanian bench in the parliament has already rejected the move.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI in federal court in New York, the two sons of former President Ricardo Martinelli participated as " intermediaries " in receiving and paying bribes for $28 million, "under the leadership of Odebrecht."

The payments would have benefited a Panamanian official, whose name has not been noted in the documents released so far (are sealed by order of federal judge Robert Levy). However, the official is described as "an officer with a very high position in the government of Panama" between 2009 and 2014, a period that corresponds to the presidential mandate of  Ricardo Martinelli and, in addition, a  "close family member" of the two accused. Guatemalan media have been less circumspect and identify their father  as the family member. The ex-president is facing ,multiple corruption investigations including Odebrecht.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/us-state-department-knocks-parlacen-impunity-cloak

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Petitions to exit den of thieves

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Posted 28/07/2020

The stalled  plan of the brothers Luis Enrique and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares – sons of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli   to escape extradition to the US  to face money laundering charges by  becoming alternate deputies in the Central American  Parliament (Parlacen)   has re-ignited citizen demands for the withdrawal  of Panama from the forum seen as a bolt hole for corrupt  politicians

Two initiatives have been activated on the change.org platform to request signatures of support, to ask President  Cortizo to withdraw the country from the anachronistic body.  The two campaigns agree that Parlacen "does not contribute anything to Panama." They hope to obtain 5,000 signatures. , one of the movements had already obtained over  4,600 signatures by Monday evening. The other had more than 2,400.

Parlacen, a forum created in 1991, has had more sorrows than glories reports La Prensa Various sectors of Central America label it as a “refuge for corrupt politicians”. In fact, one of the initiatives that promote the exit of that forum, the one promoted by the citizen Raúl Morales, recalls that ‘Parlacen has only served so that Panamanian politicians indicted for alleged acts of corruption take refuge in the forum to shield themselves from justice .”

He questions that the country “squanders” at least $1.7 million a year in the fee to be paid to Parlacen, funds that, in his opinion, can serve to strengthen the health and education system of the population currently hit by the  COVID pandemic

"We demand that Panama leave Parlacen. Let's start improving what does not work well for our country: it is time to eliminate one of the many privileges that politicians enjoy in Panama. Parliamentary immunity should not shield anyone from responding to possible acts of corruption ...,” the request states.

This is not the first time that citizens have called for the country to leave the body. Last year, in the heat of the debate on constitutional reforms, the Citizen Consciousness Movement, led by Cristian Ábrego, presented a proposal to the National Assembly, but it was not acted on.

One of the loudest brouhahas in the relationship between Panama and Parlacen was in 2009 when then-President Ricardo Martinelli called it a "den of thieves" and proposed removing the country from the forum. 

In 2010, the then official Democratic Change bench in the National Assembly, and its ally at the time, the Panameñista Party, approved a law that removed Panama from the forum, but in 2012 - after the alliance  dissolved  a  Supreme Court ruling declared the  claim unconstitutional

Upon leaving the Presidency, Martinelli was sworn in as deputy of the Parlacen in 2014 and when he was fingered for alleged irregularities during his administration.

Now his sons, ask to be recognized as alternate deputies.

At least 12 of the 20 deputies of the Panamanian caucus opposed after Nadia De León, president of the forum, asked them to swear them in. Panamanian parliamentarians Gilberto Succari and Cirilo Salas, vice president, and secretary-general, respectively, sent a letter to the board, saying they would not do so.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/petitions-to-exit-den-of-thieves-1

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FBI lodges Martinelli sons' files with court

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Posted 28/07/2020

The sons of former president Ricardo Martinelli could face sentences of up to 50 years in a US prison if convicted of the crimes linked to Money laundering and other illegal activities investigated by the FBI.

Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares met "in person, on several occasions" with an agent of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as part of the investigation for alleged conspiracy to launder money and money laundering related to Odebrecht.

The data is recorded in the affidavit that the FBI special agent, Michael Lewandowski, delivered on Monday, July 27  to the Eastern District Court of New York, which on June 27 received a criminal complaint against the brothers. Lewandowski is one of the agents assigned to the case, "which involves criminal conduct, including conspiracy and money laundering."

Evidence
Lewandowski points out that in the evidence obtained against the Martinelli Linares, there are witness statements, bank records, company ownership documents, and emails, among others.

The brothers have been detained in Guatemala since July 6, while their eventual extradition to the United States is defined.

According to the FBI investigation, the brothers were reported to have participated as "intermediaries" in receiving and paying bribes of  $28 million, "under the leadership of Odebrecht."

The payments would have benefited a Panamanian official, whose name has not been noted in the documents, However, the official is described as "an officer with a very high position in the government of Panama and, addition, "close relative" of the two accused." between 2009 and 2014, the time of the presidency of Ricardo Martinelli.  

In parallel to the affidavit presented by the FBI agent, Deputy Prosecutor Julia Nestor presented to the Court an affidavit, in which she points out that only for the crime of conspiracy to launder money, the prison sentence would be up to 20 years.

The prosecutor mentions that there are two charges for money laundering "for concealment", which carry a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison. Luis Enrique, in addition, is linked to a charge for using money from fraud, in a legitimate business, a crime punishable by imprisonment of up to 10 years.

According to the complaint, the payments would have occurred between August 2009 - one month after Martinelli took office - and September 2015, at least, and would have been channeled through the management of "secret" bank accounts, on behalf of shell companies or ghost companies in the Bahamas or the British Virgin Islands. These transactions were carried out, "knowing that they represented the product of some illegal activity" and with the intention of concealing their nature, source, and beneficiary.” according to the amendment presented on Monday.

In Panama, the former president and his sons are required for investigation by the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, which since 2017 been n investigates the bribes that Odebrecht paid in the country.

The Second Superior Court of Justice gave the sons bonds of $2 million each. The father, he has not gone to an investigation but presented a medical disability certificate for 60 days, effective until the beginning of September.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/fbi-lodges-martinelli-sons039-files-with-court-1

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OPINI0N: 50 years jail vs impunity

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Posted 29/07/2020

The new criminal charges that prosecutors have made in the United States against two of the sons of former President Ricardo Martinelli - who are in Guatemala waiting for the extradition process to continue to the United States - reveal the seriousness of their legal situation in that country, where they would face penalties that can add up to 50 years in prison. And everything is related to the investigation, which for years has been the Odebrecht case. The contrasts between American justice and ours are embarrassing. While in the United States it advances with firm steps –as in other Latin American countries–, in Panama everything indicates that the theft of state funds will go unpunished since in the Supreme Court of Justice a conspiracy is woven to make the case suffer the luck of all high-profile processes: impunity. Here, the investigation has irrefutable recordings, documents, confessions, and evidence against the accused –evidence as solid as in the United States–, but the fate of the cases in both countries will be very different. And that is known by the parents of the extraditable, who desperately want them to return to the country, because here the most petulant corruption reigns, whose inseparable companion is, precisely, impunity.- LA PRENSA, Jul 29

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opini0n-50-years-jail-vs-impunity

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Another door closing for embattled Martinelli sons

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Posted 30/07/2020

The Guatemalan  Attorney General, María Consuelo Porras Argueta has moved to lock the door to  the attempted escape route of the two sons of former Panama president Ricardo Marinelli by oresenting an Amparo of constitutional guarantees , "by virtue of the certain, real and imminent threat" that the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) swears in Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares as alternate deputies of that body.

With their eventual swearing-in, the Martinelli Linares brothers "intend to avoid the extradition procedure and request, urged against them by the United States of America, after investing criminal orders against them," said a statement from the Guatemalan Public Ministry.

Porras Argueta requests that the president of the Parlacen, the Guatemalan deputy Nadia De León Torres, be ordered not to carry out the swearing-in act, “in order to avoid the evasion of the law that they seek, and with which they would be violating the principles of security, legal certainty and the principle of legality ”.

Nadia De León Torres, who is active on social networks, has not written anything about it.

Last week, the Parlacen board of directors instructed the Panamanian bench in that forum to swear-in the fugitives, as alternate deputies, at their next session. The majority of the 20-member caucus publicly expressed their rejection.

The brothers have been detained in Guatemala since July 6, at the request of the US, on charges of alleged money laundering and conspiracy to launder, linked to the bribes of the construction company Odebrecht

The United States, warned that the swearing-in of both as alternate deputies "would damage the rule of law and promote impunity in the region," said. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Michael Kozak.

"Individuals within Parlacen would like to use membership as a shield to block the extradition to the United States of accused criminals," Kozak on   Twitter, this Tuesday, with the hashtag "united against corruption." The message was retweeted by the American embassies in Panama and Guatemala.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/another-door-closing-for-embattled-martinelli-sons

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Ex-president sets judicial hounds on opponents

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Posted 30/07/2020

Former president Ricardo Martinelli has turned his attack dogs in the form of a pack of compliant, well rewarded lawyers on a range  of people who have crossed his path since he was extradited from the United States to face a criminal trial for alleged illegal wiretapping and other crimes.

The taps have been replaced by multi-million dollar lawsuits  and judicial harassment of prosecutors, former magistrates of the Supreme Court a former attorney general, journalists, civil society personnel, and political opponents and La Prensa  which has exposed  much of the corruption during his mandate.

The hounding  has  also reached two forensic doctors from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Imelcf) , for alleged abuse of authority, and breaches of the duties of public servants, among other crimes. This was because they examined him when he was being prosecuted for the wiretapping  case, in which he was declared "not guilty" on August 9, 2019. The ruling is under appeal.

The legal action also warns that if found guilty, they must be held civilly liable and pay $1 million for the “damages” they have caused.

The Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office investigating the Odebrecht case is awaiting the forensic psychiatric evaluation report carried out on Martinelli on July 21. And the Specialized Prosecutor's Office against Organized Crime, investigating  him for the New Business case,  awaits  results of another  Imelcf. Examination.

Imelcf said  that the action is "clearly intimidating" and threatens the institution's independence and objectivity.

Recently, Imelcf personnel carried out physical and psychiatric exams after  Martinelli presented medical disabilities to the Public Ministry so as not to testify in the New Business and Odebrecht cases. In the first of these cases, he was charged with  alleged money laundering, and is under country arrest and must  notify Public Ministry once a month.

The legal action  against the two forensic doctors was filed at the Public Ministry by lawyers Jessica Canto and Shirley Castañeda, who are part of  Martinelli’s pack of lawyers.

The lawyers demand that the doctors  be prosecuted for  crimes against life and personal integrity abuse of authority, and violation of the duties of public servants, and against public faith.

 In the complaint, they describe that the Imelcf's expert doctors carried out forensic evaluations of Martinelli during the trial phase of the wiretap  case, in which a Trial Court declared him “not guilty” of political espionage and embezzlement of funds. public of which he had been accused by the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Organized Crime. The lawyers  request an investigation against the doctors and the officials, and  also request a restorative action, for the alleged damages. They demand a million dollars.

On July 21, Martinelli went to the Imelcf for a psychiatric evaluation by order of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, investigating him in the Odebrecht case, , after he presented a psychiatric disability of two months, issued by the psychiatrist Algis Torres, who served as director of Health of San Miguelito, during Martinelli’s mandate. Martinelli also refuses to testify for the New Business case. He  clings to the principle of specialty established in the extradition treaty between Panama and the United States. However, in the Public Ministry there is a note from the Foreign Ministry that cites a letter from the United States embassy, in which it is noted that this principle is no longer in force.

Martinelli's legal team also filed a complaint against former attorney Kenia Porcell, whose property  was seized.  9. Porcell stopped the action by posting a bond of $150,000.

He has also sued the anti-corruption prosecutor, Tania Sterling, in  the Odebrecht case, in which Martinelli was charged with  alleged money laundering.

The judicial attack  also reaches the ex-magistrates of the Supreme Court, Harry Díaz, and Jerónimo Mejía, who acted as prosecutor, and judge of guarantees in the  wiretap case .

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/ex-president-sets-judicial-hounds-on-opponents

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Judge upbraids  Martinelli and rejects  lawsuit

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Posted 31/07/2020

The bankrolled sledgehammer campaign by ex- Panama Ricardo Martinelli against members of Panama’s judicial system who have crossed his path, got a slap down and an admonition from a judge on Friday, July 31.

The civil lawsuit filed against former Attorney General  Kenia Porcell was not admitted, and the cancellation of the seizure of assets and accounts of the former prosecutor of the Nation was ordered.

The Third Judge of Civil Circuit, Ana Zita Rowe, declared "unacceptable" the behavior displayed by Martinelli and his attorney, and requested the plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice to, urgently, "Take the necessary actions to process the protection of judicial independence in this case."

Rowe also ordered the cancellation of the bond for $144 thousand, consigned by the former attorney to prevent the seizure of her property. However, the judge kept at the court's disposal the bonds that Martinelli presented, "as a surety bond."

The seizing of the assets and accounts of Porcell was decreed on  March 9, for up to $120,000, and on July 9, the execution sheriff Grennal Cruz appeared at the Porcell residence, in the Mont Blanc urbanization, in Brisas del Golf, to carry out the seizure h. She came accompanied by several police officers and Alfredo Vallarino, Martinelli's lawyer. Vallarino even entered the home of the former attorney, who was at the scene, with her husband and two children. Porcell declared to the journalists that they intended to carry goods for a value higher than that ordered by the court.

That same day, the ex-attorney posted a bond for $144,000, which covers the value of the kidnapping, and the proceedings were suspended.

 

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/judge-upbraids-martinelli-and-rejects-lawsuit

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Lawyers react  to  Martinelli rampage against judicial officials

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Martinelli arrives for psychiatric and physical evaluation

Posted 31/07/2020

A Ricardo Martinelli rampage against judicial officials comes at a time when the  Public Prosecutor’s Office is awaiting the results of physical and psychiatric examinations recently carried out by the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences on the former president as part of the New Business and Odebrecht investigations.

The former president is suing two doctors from the Institute, for having examined him in the middle of his trial for alleged espionage and embezzlement.

After learning about the complaint  lawyers described the action as "intimidating"

"It is the use of justice and the diversion of justice to try to vindicate wrongdoing," said former Accounts Prosecutor Guido Rodríguez.

Jurists agree that a law is necessary to shield judicial officials from these practices, which they say injure institutions

Others pointed to article 388 of the Penal Code, which punishes a person with a sentence of 5 to 10 years in prison for using physical force, threat, intimidation, (...) or hinder or impede the fulfillment of the official functions of an official of the investigative organizations, the Judicial Branch or the Public Ministry, in charge of enforcing the law.”

lawyer Carlos Herrera Moran said that these complaints and lawsuits are intended to intimidate judicial officials, lawyers, and civil society leaders.

The current examinations, the results of which are expected by the prosecutors' offices, were carried out after Martinelli, who has a  history of using real or imagined health issues when faced with legal challenges presented an incapacity certificate not to testify in the New Business cases, which are handled by the Office of the Prosecutor against Organized Crime, and Odebrecht, in charge of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

Jurists and representatives of organized civil society describe the ex-president's tactic as intimidating and advocate a law to shield justice administration officials from these practices that, in their opinion, injure institutions.

Rodríguez said,  that it is evident that this type of complaint against prosecutors, ex-prosecutors, ex-magistrates and now against two coroners is seeking to create "a climate of intimidation."

“In some way, however, the complainant is being prosecuted in different instances, when [a case] comes to the knowledge of some justice operator (...) because they necessarily have to feel some degree of fear to be involved in a complaint of this nature, "he said and described this strategy as" the use and diversion of justice to try to claim wrongdoing. "

Carlos Lee, of the Citizen Alliance for Justice, considered it urgent that officials and auxiliaries of the administration of justice be protected by law from intimidating measures that, he said, they intend to submit to the system.

Lawyers Ernesto Cedeño and Carlos Herrera Moran also consider the rule necessary.

Cedeño argued that law would stop the intimidating actions against the acts that those public servants carried out invested with their charges.

"Given the fear of the justice administration to stop this type of practices that are taking place against political activists, people who hold public office and journalists, the only way that there is, in my opinion, is a law that puts the barriers and boundaries so that there are no intimidating practices that could harm democracy, "said Cedeño.

Herrera Morán said that law would shield judges and prosecutors, in such a way that they cannot be intimidated by those who have that economic and political power. But he added that it must be made clear that these officials are not untouchable.

Herrera Morán is struck by the fact that the practice has not been denounced by the Court or by the Attorney General, Eduardo Ulloa, who, he said, must come to the defense of judges and prosecutors.

One of those who has been the target of Martinelli's complaints is anti-corruption prosecutor Tania Sterling.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/lawyers-react-to-martinelli-rampage-against-judicial-officials

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Parlacen rechaza juramentar a los Martinelli Linares

La mayoría de los diputados del Parlacen aprobó una resolución que niega la juramentación.
 
Aminta Bustamante
01 ago 2020 - 12:53 AM

 

 

Moderator comment: Below is an unedited automated translation of the above news article, not including the embedded Tweet.

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Parlacen refuses to swear in the Martinelli Linares

Most Parlacen deputies passed a resolution denying the swearing in.

Aminta Bustamante
Aug 01, 2020 - 12:53 AM

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Parlacen headquarters in Guatemala. Archive,

77.5% of the 120 main deputies of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), in a session of more than seven hours, voted in favor of the directive of that forum, in charge of Nadia De León, pronouncing itself denying the swearing in of the brothers Luis Enrique and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares as alternate deputies of that Central American body.

"The resolution is denying the swearing in of the brothers," Amado Cerrud, head of the Panamanian caucus, told this newspaper. In the same session, the deputy Giselle Burillo, of Democratic Change, read a resolution that had been approved last Thursday night by 11 Panamanian deputies, in which they asked the board of that regional entity to defend the "institutionality" of the body and the prerogatives they have.

The Martinelli Linares brothers have been detained since last July 6 in Guatemala, awaiting an eventual extradition to the United States, which claims them for alleged money laundering and conspiracy to launder funds.

Despite everything, Parlacen defends its privileges

Several deputies of the Panamanian bench in the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) defended yesterday, during the plenary session of that regional forum, the "inherent prerogatives of the position" that its members have.

The support was made by the Deputy for Democratic Change (CD), Giselle Burillo, who managed to get a group of her colleagues to endorse said motion with one of the last items on the agenda, with 67 votes. Burillo read the letter that 12 deputies from the Panamanian bench endorsed last Thursday night, pointing out that the institutionality of Parlacen and its members must be respected.

It was signed by Gilberto Succari and Dorindo Cortez, from the Democratic Revolutionary Party; Burillo, Dalver Tuñón, Uarren Beitía, Abraham Carrasquilla, and Carlos Outten, from CD. Like Jackeline Muñoz, and Margarita Vásquez, who although elected through the CD ballot, belong to the Alianza party. Héctor Valderrama, another Alianza deputy, also voted in favor, as did José Ramos, who although he is a deputy for the Panameñista, is a member of the Popular Party. This group also includes Rachell González, from the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement. Eight deputies abstained from participating. The resolution was endorsed eight days after the PRD caucus announced that it rejected the swearing in of the children of former President Ricardo Martinelli.

In the resolution promoted by Burillo, Nadia De León, president of said regional forum, is asked to carry out the actions, “in favor of asserting and respecting the rights, prerogatives and obligations that fall on the members, principal and alternates, to conform that parliament. "

Although the 12 deputies stated that they were not defending the brothers Luis Enrique and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares, their pronouncement is made at a time when their oath is being debated in the forum.

In fact, in said resolution, the Constitutive Treaty of Parlacen and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations are revealed, indicating that "the diplomatic authorities have the prerogatives established by said Convention, from the moment their appointment is notified" .

This is precisely the thesis proclaimed by the Martinelli Linares legal team.
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Luis Enrique and Ricardo Martinelli Linares remain detained in Guatemala. AFP

The former president's children have been detained in Guatemala since July 6, awaiting extradition to the United States, which requires them for the alleged conspiracy to launder money and money laundering related to the Odebrecht case.

Pronouncement

After Burillo read the document, there were opinions for and against. According to Parlacen sources, at least 20 deputies from different benches expressed their position. Then she went on to the most important point of the day: the directive was to rule on the laws that regulate the regional body.

77.5% decided that they should, but making it clear that the Martinelli Linares brothers will not be sworn in. This point was proposed by the deputy Martha Pérez, from the Dominican Republic. While 12.5% of the deputies were against Parlacen's pronouncement, and another 10% of the 120 deputies that make up the plenary abstained. The session, which started at around 11:00 a.m., ended after 7:00 p.m.

The marathon day was held a day after the Guatemalan attorney general, María Consuelo Porras, filed for constitutional guarantees to prevent the Parlacen from taking the oath.

Among other things, he argued “a fraud of the law”. Action that generated a reaction from Nadia De León, president of Parlacen, who wrote on her Twitter account that she regretted the fact, arguing that the appeal was contrary to the legislation contained in the Treaties and Agreements to which the State of Guatemala is a party .

https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/parlacen-rechaza-juramentar-a-los-martinelli-linares/

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Parlacen  nixes escape route for Martinelli fugitives

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Posted 01/08/2020

Deputies of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) , in a session that lasted more than seven hours, voted overwhelmingly on  Friday,  to deny the swearing-in swearing-in of the brothers Luis Enrique and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares as alternate deputies.

The way is now clear for their extradition to face money laundering corruption charges that could earn jail sentences up to 50 years and open the door for FBI  investigations of their father former president Ricardo  Martinelli.

77.5% of the body’s 120 members voted in favor of denying them the shelter of a seat.

The Martinelli brothers have been detained since t July 6 in a Guatemala military prison, awaiting eventual extradition to the United States.  Their extradition hearings have been delayed because of the Coronavirus pandemic

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/parlacen-nixes-escape-route-for-martinelli-fugitives

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