Whistleblower who fingered Martinelli gets country jail
MAYTE PELLEGRINI the ex Financial Pacific (FP) employee who blew the whistle on links of former President Ricardo Martinelli and associates to the scandal plagued brokerage has been granted country arrest after three years of varying forms of detention.
Pellegrini accused with 12 other people of financial offenses against FP, was held in pretrial detention from November 20, 2012. She left prison on January 29, 2015, and, after ten days before the court was granted house arrest.
While in jail she said she was promised her release by former tourism administrator Saloman Shamah if she would withdraw her affidavits about Martinellis and a secret account used to manipulate the stock market. She also said that the then Attorney General. Jose Ayu Prado made similar promises. Soon after Ayu Prado was appointed to the Supreme Court.
She served house arrest at her mother’s home in San Francisco and since last October at the home of a relative in Parque Lefevre.
In aFebruary 19 resolution Judge Johann Barrios, granted the injunction of country prison. She is barred from leaving the country and must report to the court twice a month.
Barrios estimated that Pellegrini has served about 36 months of private freedom (between the women’s prison, the holding cells of Ancon DIJ and residence) “which places it very close to the minimum penalty for the crime under investigation.” The Criminal Code provides for a minimum sentence of four years for financial crimes.
The judge took into account the medical reports of the Santo Tomas Hospital and the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, stating that Pellegrini suffers from Osler Weber disease and Diabetes Mellitus.