Court ruling on Martinelli son appealed

PANAMA’S Fourth Anti-Corruption Prosecutor  has petitioned the Supreme Court to void a heavily criticized  order issued by Alternate Justice Gabriel Fernández to suspend the investigation into Ricardo Martinelli Linares for irregularities in the granting of a televised bingo contract.

Chief Justice José Ayú Prado confirmed the order in the last week of December, prompting  Prosecutor Ruth Morcillo to file the petition.

Martinelli Linares and three others are shareholders in the company that won the concession for the lottery. The judge’s order, however, only suspended the investigation of Martinelli Linares, the son of former President Ricardo Martinelli, and not of the other three defendants, Omar Chen Chang, Jacqueline Chan de Watson and Egbert Agustín Wright.

The plenary of the court must still approve the decision.