Martinelli defense hits rock in court move

ANOTHER ATTEMPT by Ricardo Martinelli  defense lawyers to keep their client out of court, ran aground on Tuesday, March 8 when   Jeronimo Mejia, judge of guarantees  in the Supreme Court  trial of the  former President over  the purchase of dehydrated food, declared “inadmissible” the request to  declare the process invalid.

They argued that  judicial proceedings were without prior authorization.

The judge ruled that the prosecutor’s inquiries into  Martinelli  bank accounts of, were not of a judicial nature.

Following the decision, the prosecutor ,Judge Oyden Ortega, has a free hand to further investigate Martinelli.

Mejia said the  prosecutor did not violate process and the defense submission was unfounded, Martinelli is facing charges of  alleged irregularities in the $45 million purchase of dehydrated food through the former  National Assistance Program, (PAN). The defense said the steps taken by the prosecutor, Judge  Oyden Ortega to examine the bank accounts  called for  the case to be annulled.

“It is inadmissible because the disputed proceedings have no nature of judicial proceedings,” Mejía concluded at the end of the hearing.

Sidney Sitton had argued  that the prosecutor acted  without prior permission of the investigating  judge.

Ortega Ortega said  that all the banks contacted by his office provided the required information promptly.

No measures of inspection, seizures or abductions were carried out, “in which case no other prior judicial review of guarantees would be required,” he said.

He added that the bank information requested is not related to Martinelli or his  companies, but with the accounts of the company Lerkshore International Limited, a supplier of dehydrated foods which supplied  PAN, at a cost of $44.5 million.

“The sole purpose was to know the final destination of transactions,” he said.