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Moderator comment: This news article could be placed in any of several different topics here on CL. For the moment it is being posted in this topic, but it may be moved in the future based on unfolding reportage.


 

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Corruption storm engulfs CD presidential candidate

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Ricardo Martinelli, wife and Dominog Arias

THE CD PARTY presidential candidate in the 2014 Panama election is under the spotlight of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP)  investigating money laundering and organized crime as the Odebrecht  investigation  widens.

José Domingo “Mimito” Arias whose vice-presidential running mate was Marta Martinelli, former First Lady and wife of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli.

Arias has had several meetings with  prosecutors to try to explain the origin of funds for his  electoral campaign, but  his  explanations do not seem to be very convincing reports La Prensa

His political strategists from Brazil, Mónica Moura And Joao Santana have confessed that this campaign was financed  by Odebrecht, with more than $15 million .

The prosecution cites checks paid in favor of the company of the Brazilian couple issued by the company José Domingo Arias 2014, S.A., Issued by the company José Domingo Arias 2014, S.A., “funds of which there is no certainty of the lawfulness of their origin, “the accusers contend.

The Superior Anti-Corruption Special Prosecutor’s Office has asked the court  to rate the investigations  related to Odebrecht in Panama, specifically of Constructora Internacional del Sur, S.A., and the financing of the  Domingo Arias campaign  to rate the investigation “as an organized crime”.

Originally, the research was carried out under the theory of the commission of money laundering offenses and against the public administration. The request seeks, more time to advance the investigations carried out by the Public Ministry since it has the legal certainty that the company Constructor Norberto Odebrecht,  … made payments to Panamanian officials for the sole purpose of guaranteeing the awarding of contracts for the construction of projects in Panama,” prosecutors say.

In their support, prosecutors contend that “we are in the presence of an organized  criminal group, composed of more than three people, who have acted for several years, …  it is an organization which has been operating since 2009, in which its members have interacted in the coordination, and collaboration of criminal acts by creating and using offshore companies to conceal illicit money, through the accounts which they maintained in different countries of the world“.

Transnational criminal
These facts show, say prosecutors, that they are in the presence of a ” Transnational criminal “, that  attacked the economy and the order o the State.

Accused
Several suspects  have been accused, among them, the director of Odebrecht in Panama, André Campos Rabello; The beneficiary of the Constructora International del Sur accounts Olivio Rodrigues Junior; Petrobras executives, convicted of corruption in their native country; Lawyers of the firm Rosas & Rosas; executives of Odebrecht in Panama, who received cash payments of monies deposited in bank accounts Of Rosas & Rosas, from  Constructora Internacional del Sur,  Juan Carlos Rosas and Rosa Mari Molino Paz and the The strategists Joao Santana and his partner  Mónica Moura.

Moura and Santana signed professional services contracts with the party Cambio Democrático (CD) , whose founder is former president Ricardo Martinelli, arrested in Miami and  awaiting a ruling on  a petition for his extradition to Panama.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/corruption-storm-engulfs-cd-presidential-candidate

  • 1 month later...
Posted

José Domingo Arias Detained at Tocumen Airport

Domingo "Mimito" Arias, the CD's losing Presidential candidate in the 2014 elections, was detained at Tocumen Airport this morning when he tried to leave the country.

Even though formal charges have not been filed against him nor prohibitions put in place, an order that he be held for questioning was issued quickly once it was known he was on his way out of town. It is suspected that he or his campaign received money or funding from Odebrecht.

Sr. Arias stated that his motives for travel are business and he would only be gone  a few days.

 

  • Moderators
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CD presidential candidate arrested at airport

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Domingo Arias

José Domingo Arias the former presidential candidate of the Democratic Change  (CD) party was arrested at Tocumen International Airport on Tuesday, August 29 as he tried to leave Panama.

He is Is under investigation For the irregular donations allegedly given to his 2014 campaign by the Odebrecht company.   After his arrest, he was taken to the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office in the Avesa building on Via Espana.

Armando Fuentes, a defense lawyer for Arias, said that his client has no intention of evading justice and had been going to Bogota for a two-day business visit.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/cd-presidential-candidate-arrested-airport

  • Moderator_02 changed the title to José Domingo Arias (Former CD Presidential Candidate) Arrested at Tocumen Airport
  • 2 weeks later...
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Ex- Panama presidential wannabe moved to jail

Ricardo-Martinelli-Marta-Linares-Domingo_LPRIMA20170714_0131_27-620x264.jpg 
Ricardo Martinelli, wife and Dominog Arias

THE FORMER  Panama presidential candidate for The Democratic Change (CD) Party  is now, like the party’s founder and leader Ricardo Martinelli, behind bars.

José Domingo Arias, who is in preventive detention because of  donations made by the construction company Odebrecht to his election campaign, has been transferred to the El Renacer Prison in Balboa, temporary home of many former high rollers

Arias was picked as the CD candidate by ex-president Martinelli, who also selected his wife Marta Martinelli to run for vice-president, a move opponents said was an attempt to continue holding the reins of power.

Within hours  of the results with Juan Carlos Varela elected to lead the country, Martinelli denounced Arias for running an ineffectual campaign

Armando Fuentes, defense of Arias, is waiting for a writ of habeas corpus and a bail hearing his client. Arias was arrested at Tocumen International Airport while waiting to board a plane to Bogota.

He is being prosecuted for money laundering, with $16 million of the $21 million that his electoral campaign cost financed with Odebrecht funds, according to statements by his Brazilian publicist Monica Moura.

Arias claims to know nothing of the illegal donation.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/ex-panama-presidential-wannabe-moved-jail

  • Moderator_02 changed the title to José Domingo Arias (Former CD Presidential Candidate) Facing Odebrecht Related Corruption Charges
  • 7 months later...
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Ex-presidential  candidate in bribery probe

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Jose-Domingo-Arias
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The day after his campaign treasurer José Porta Álvarez,  was placed in preventive detention, José Domingo “Mimito” Arias, the CD (CD)presidential candidate in the 2014 elections appeared at the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office investigating bribes paid by Odebrecht in Panama.

“We will collaborate to clarify the case … We will continue providing all the elements that the prosecution considers necessary to clarifying this case once and for all, “Arias told media on arrival at the office on Via Espana.

On April 25, prosecutor Zuleyka Moore announced the reactivation of investigations, paralyzed since October 25, by order of the Twelfth Criminal Court. The suspension was revoked earlier this month by the Second Superior Court of Justice, which granted the prosecutor’s office one year to complete the investigations.

The prosecutor’s office has tracked  Arias and Porta Álvarez, because, through companies linked to their names, and filed in different jurisdictions, Odebrecht allegedly transferred about $10 million to Mimito Arias.

Mónica Moura, wife of Joao Santana, Mimito’s campaign strategist, informed Brazilian authorities that the value of that political campaign was agreed at $21 million, of which Odebrecht would pay more than 75% or the equivalent of $16 million.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/ex-presidential-candidate-in-bribery-probe

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