Secret agreement documents handed to court at Lavitola hearing

THE MARTINELLI labeled "Italian novela" opened a new page on Thursday May 5 in a Naples courtroom when Radio Panama journalist Joan Solés presented new information backed up by documents during three hours of questioning.

The hearing about the alleged extortion of the Impregilo company, which was told it needed to build a hospital in Veraguas promised by the former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in exchange for the promise of receiving future public contracts in Panama, including the Metro.

At the hearing were Public Ministry officials Greta Marchosky and Ramsés Barrera, accompanied by a translator, at a distance of just one meter from journalists covering the event. The officials have provided their full cooperation to Italian prosecutors reports La Prensa.
Solés, who earlier testified that she had received death threats and offers of money to change her reports, answered questions from Deputy Chief Prosecutor Vicenzo Piscitelli and Association of Magistrates President Giovanna Cepalluni, as well as defense attorneys for Valter Lavítola, who is accused of demanding the bribes on behalf of Berlusconi.
The journalist based her responses on documents she consulted during her answers. She then turned the documents over to the court.
They included official communications from the government of Panama, statements and speeches of President Ricardo Martinelli and Italian officials about the project, statements from Ministers Roberto Herní¬quez, Alma Cortés and José Raúl Mulino and secret agreements made through offshore corporations in the British Virgin Islands.