Martinelli bound ex-minister stopped at airport
ALMA CORTÉS, a former Minister of Labor and official with the CD party, who is under investigation for unjustified enrichment while in office was stopped from boarding a flight to Miami on Tuesday Dec.16.
According to Cortés, immigration authorities at Tocumen International Airport did not receive the notification of the Fourth Criminal Court, which authorized Cortés to travel to the United States.
The investigation is led by the Sixth AntiCorruption Prosecutor’s Office. Cortés had been authorized by the court to travel between Dec. 12 and 14 to Miami, but the notice wasn’t received in time to notify immigration officials.
Cortés is currently deputy secretary general of the CD, whose president is Ricardo Martinelli, the former president of the republic who is living in Miami. This week he received a number of CD members as he struggles to unite the party he founded and which propelled him tp the presidency.
Matinelli faces multiple corruption charges, and fled the country two years ago.
If found guilty he could face 20 years in jail for wiretapping political opponents, journalists judges and businessmen.
