Martinelli lawyers get little success in Supreme Court

LAWYERS representing self exiled ex-president Ricardo Martinelli came up almost empty handed at a Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday, June 2.

 Judge Jerome Mejía rejected a motion to force prosecutors to interview former National Aid Program (PAN) Director Giacomo Tamburrelli and Democratic Change (CD) Deputy Fernando Carrillo.
In his decision, Mejia ruled that the criminal code did not allow him to order prosecutors who to question or investigate.
Oydén Ortega, who is serving as the prosecutor in the case, said that he will take statements from former ministers Lucy Molinar (Education) and Federico José Suárez (Public Works), and former deputy ministers María Fábrega (Presidency) and Marta Susana de Varela (Social Development).
The interviews will take place this week.
The judge also denied a defense request to order the prosecutor’s office to take statements from non-governmental organizations fighting malnutrition, such as Pro Niñez, Nutre Hogar y Pro Niños del Darién.
Ortega was opposed to taking statements from them because they have no bearing on the case, which is focused on the purchase of almost $60 million in dehydrated food by the PAN from the company Lerkshore International.
Mejia said the defense can conduct their own interviews, without the authorization of the prosecutor, under the new criminal procedural system,
“Each of the parties has its own theory of the case that they can try to prove,” said Mejia.
The judge also dismissed a defense motion to exclude the results of a search at the Public Registry on a technicality.
The judge did rule that defense attorneys could be present at interviews conducted by the prosecution. It was opposed by Ortega, who unsuccessfully argued that time constraints made this decision difficult to comply with. He is facing a two-month deadline to complete the investigation.
Today was the third procedural hearing in the case, following ones held Monday and April 11.
Martinelli was not present. He left the country on January 28 and his current whereabouts are unknown.