Lawyers file habeas corpus in inner circle laundering probe

THE ANTICIPATED flood of moves by lawyers representing a group of high profile members of the Ricardo Martinelli inner circle to delay investigation for alleged money laundering in the “New Business” case is already underway.
By Friday, July 7   the plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) had received at least six habeas corpus applications related to the investigation of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime and Money Laundering in transactions for the purchase of Editora Panamá América, S.A. (Epasa), possibly with public funds, known as New Business.

Epasa has labeled the investigation a move by President Juan Carlos Varela to silence the opposition media group.
On July 5, the Secretariat of the CSJ distributed applications to various judges in favor of ex- vice-president Felipe Pipo Virzi, Gabriel Btesh, David Ochy, Riccardo Francolini, Ramón Carretero, Jack Btesh, Mike Btesh, Aaron Mizrachi, Nicolás Corcione, Danny Cohen, Moussa Levy and Henri Mizrachi.
On June 30, a writ of habeas corpus was submitted in favor of Danny Cohen. Other appeals have been filed in favor of Gonzalo Germán Gómez Wong and Mike Btesh, and the list is growing as a number of the alleged perpetators are also involved in other investigations.
Last Monday the Specialized Prosecutor against Organized Crime was in the process of obtaining copies of the 27 volumes of the investigation to be sent to the Supreme Court, reports La Prensa