OFF THE CUFF : Martinelli gets Public Defenders

ANOTHER   Supreme Court case involving ex-president Ricardo Martinelli increasingly resembles a three act mystery stage play with the supporting cast making brief on-stage appearances to spout their lines while the principle actors lurk in the wings.

Meanwhile, the audience is dozing or heading for the doors, bored with the never ending story, increasingly convinced that this time good is not going to win over evil.

The  plot is the  continuation of the hearing of charges against  Martinelli, for abuse of authority by granting  353 pardons  (some for criminal offense)  days before the end of his presidential term

On Wednesday, June 21, at the request of prosecutor  Abel Zamorano  following the request of Supreme Court  Judge José Ayú Prado, two of the characters  were  public defender understudies, appointed to represent Martinelli, whose well paid lawyer had slipped away to Miami where his client is behind bars awaiting extradition and the decision of a judge on a bail request.

The Panama hearing, which resumed on Wednesday for the third time, will now await the bail decision before setting a new date, although, even if granted bail, Martinelli is not likely to be heading back to Panama where he faces a dozen criminal investigations including corruption and embezzlement.

The designated  public defender under studies  are Roummel Salerno and Danilo Montenegro, who followed the script  and agreed with Zamorano to suspend the hearing and set  a new date guaranteeing the right of the former president to be present at the hearing.

Ayú Prado in the second hearing had suspended the diligence, after reading an email sent 24 hours earlier by Sidney Sittón, playing the role of defense lawyer, in which he explained that he could not attend the hearing because he had to travel to Miami.

He was let off the hook by Ayu Prado whose meteoric two-year rise from a low-level plodder at the Public Ministry to Attorney General and then to the Supreme Court was stage managed by Martinelli.

If Martinelli can’t make it, Perhaps it’s time to insert “sentenced in absentia” into the script.