Martinelli seeking deal with prosecutor

EX-PANAMA  president Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal,  approaching his fifth month behind bars in a Miami Detention center awaiting extradition is seeking to strike a deal with a prosecuting judge who could call for a 21-year jail term if the former ruler is found guilty of wiretapping.

He wants  to negotiate an agreement with Judge Harry Diaz, prosecutor of the unauthorized interception of communications from the National Security during his tenure says a note that Alma Cortés,  a Martinelli confident and Minister of Labor during his mandate (2009-2014), sent to Diaz and was received in the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) on Oct. reports La Prensa.

Cortés proposed that  Díaz to travel to Miami, for a meeting with Martinelli at the Federal Detention Center which he entered on  June 12, after his arrest by federal marshals near his mansion in Coral Gables.

The appointment is called “to explore the possibility of an agreement on the terms and conditions which would be agreed between the parties, in order to interview Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal, who is deprived of his freedom in that center.”

“On this journey, as you know, six[6] would go and lawyers of the complainants who would be aware of the negotiations, in order to ensure rights, “says Cortes.

The date of this meeting – according to the letter of Cortes – would be October. 16. As far as is known, the meeting never occurred says La Prensa.

On August 31, federal judge Edwin Torres certified the extraditability of Martinelli to Panama, where he is wanted for  the alleged commission of four offenses: interception of communications without judicial authorization; unauthorized monitoring judicial; embezzled by embezzlement, and embezzled from use. In his ruling, Torres wrote that “there are indications of reliability in this dossier of that Martinelli could have committed the alleged crimes, given all the evidence presented “.

The defense of the former president presented a habeas corpus in an attempt to avoid his extradition. The appeal has not been resolved yet.

Martinelli has never personally appeared in the trial, which is why the magistrate of guarantees Jerónimo Mejía declared him “in rebellion” and the full  Supreme Court ordered his arrest and requested his extradition.