Former presidents Martinelli and Varela will go to trial for the Odebrecht case in Panama

The former presidents of Panama Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) and Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019) will go to trial along with 34 other people accused of money laundering for the Odebrecht casea process that is scheduled to begin in August 2023.

According to judicial documents to which EFE had access this Tuesday, on the list of 36 defendants called to trial are former presidents Martinelli and Varela, and the former’s two sons, Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique, both imprisoned in the United States, where they confessed that received bribes from Odebrecht.

LOOK HERE: Panamanian prosecutor asks to judge former presidents Martinelli and Varela for money laundering for Odebrecht

The Judicial Branch reported on Monday night that a court decided to call 36 people to trial for alleged money laundering in the case Odebrechtwithout identifying them, but specifying that the process was scheduled from August 1 to 18, 2023 as the main date, and from September 27 to October 17, 2023 as the alternate.

In the judicial document to which EFE had access, the former Ministers of Public Works Jaime Ford and Federico Suárez also appear called to trial for money laundering; of Economy Frank De Lima; of the Presidency Demetrio Papadimitriu, and the Housing and former presidential candidate José Domingo Arias, who held public office during the Martinelli Government.

In addition, Carlos Duboy, the former Minister of Housing during the Government of Varela.

The Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office) said this Tuesday in a brief message on its social networks that it achieved “the call to trial for 36 people, including 2 former presidents of the Republic, 6 former ministers, 2 sons of a former president (2009-2014), and other former officials, businessmen and individuals for money laundering” for the Odebrecht case.

Judge Baloísa Marquínez, head of the Third Liquidator Court for Criminal Cases, ruled through Mixed Order number 9 “open criminal case against 35 people accused of the crime against the economic order, in the form of money laundering”informed last night the Judicial Branch.

He too “Call for trial against a citizen investigated for the crime Against the National Economy, in the form of money laundering (the latter due to the applicable regulations at the time the events occurred)”he added.

In its letter on Monday, the Judicial Branch specified that Judge Marquínez provisionally dismissed 11 people and definitively one for money laundering, which in the list to which EFE had access appears identified as María Bagatelas de Papadimitriu, mother of the former minister. who will go to trial for this very crime.

MORE INFORMATION: Martinelli brothers, sons of the former president of Panama, will be released in January 2023

The preliminary hearing of this process was held from September 12 to 28.

Prosecutor Mahmad Daud Hasan asserted that the Brazilian construction company, which arrived in Panama in 2006 and was for several years the main contractor of the State, paid “bribes left and right” in the country.

In July 2017, Odebrecht signed an agreement with the Panamanian Prosecutor’s Office to pay a fine of 220 million dollars to the State in 12 years, which is not being fulfilled.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.