Lawyer fingers Martinelli sons

THE FORMER  LAWYER  of the two sons of ex- president  Ricardo Martinelli  is  a key link in their  money laundering investigation and is cooperating with prosecutors.

In different statements, Evelyn Vargas Reynaga who was the trusted lawyer of  Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares- has given the Public Ministry details about the role she played in companies created for the Martinelli sons.

She told Special Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office investigating the Odebrecht case that her former clients tried to persuade her not to return to Panama after the Public Ministry issued an order for her arrest in Mexico reports La Prensa.

Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares called Mexico,  and said: “Do not go back To Panama (…) if you want, you are welcome in Miami. ” Two days later, the two brothers called again to reiterate the offer.

The statement was made in the first investigation of Vargas Reynaga before the Public Ministry, on February 22.

Vargas Reynaga told the sons that she had received a letter from the Embassy Of the United States telling her they had removed her visa. “Why do I need this?” she complained.

They said: “You are not the only one. Our mother [Marta Linares de Martinelli] also lost hers and we’re not going to be able to see our mom.” and  they confessed that their visas had been  “taken away.”

The lawyer also revealed that on February 16 she received an email from Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, informing her that they had hired an Interpol affairs specialist law firm and that she was included in the package.

They attached a power of attorney for her to sign and told her to send the documents by courier to an Address in Miami.

“They used me, they did with me what they wanted,” said Vargas Reynaga.

The brothers acquired large assets, concealed suspicious transactions and, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, would have been an important vehicle to hide money from bribes By Odebrecht to win millions of dollars of contracts.

Vargas Reynaga started working at Ricamar (the Martinelli business owning the Supper 99 chain,  in June 2009, a month before Ricardo Martinelli took over the presidency.

In the midst of the transition between Martin Torrijos and Martinelli,  she received a call from a school friend  Giselle Brea, who left Ricamar to go to work for the State as executive secretary of The Gaming  Control Board. “She told me that if I was interested in working at Ricamar, it was something different from what I was doing … “.

“Evelyn, these are not issues of court, they are more administrative matters,” she was  told.

She gained the confidence of the Martinelli Linares, to such a point, that Ricardo Alberto sent her to Madrid, to sign the contract for the sale of a luxury apartment that they acquired in that city.

Her friend Giselle Brea is also in the sights of an anti-corruption prosecution, as part of the investigation related to the contract award process for the

Buko Millionaire bingo, a business that would have been linked to Ricardo Martinelli Linares.

Homecoming
On Wednesday, February 22, the lawyer returned to Panama on a commercial flight from Mexico after an Interpol alert.

On that day, Vargas Reynaga gave a long statement to Tania Sterling, who is coordinating the special prosecution

“I am willing to collaborate with you,” she said almost at the end of the diligence and then gave details of his work in Importadora Ricamar.

Vargas Reynaga knows a lot. And  is a key piece in the puzzle of OdebrechtSuiza, an investigation that involves many former high-profile figures right to the top of  the Martinelli  administration.power pyramid