Court nixes Martinelli son’s appeal

DELAYING moves by the legal team of a son of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli in the Buko Millionario case have finally stalled and prosecutors have been given the go-ahead to complete the investigation of alleged irregularities in the televised program.

On Wednesday, April 11 the plenary of the Supreme Court resolved the protection of constitutional guarantee appeal presented by Ricardo Martinelli Linares, son of former president Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal.

The anti-corruption Prosecutor had turned to several banks, to obtain information on the accounts of Martinelli Linares.

on May 22, 2015, it sought  to know: documentation of opening of the accounts, origin of the funds, profile of the operations, authorized signatures, purpose of the account, and account statement for the year 2011 to December 2014, authenticated copy of the checks drawn, request and approval of management checks, transfers sent and received, among others.

In his appeal, Martinelli Linares alleged that the prosecution requested “private documentation.” However, the plenary  It concluded that “no infringement of the guarantee of due process is detected.”

The ruling was supported by magistrates José Ayú Prado (speaker), Cecilio Cedalise, Hernán De León and Luis Ramón Fábrega, and the reasoned vote of Ángela Russo de Cedeño.

Harry Diaz, Jerónimo Mejía, Abel Zamorano and Oydén Ortega saved their  votes.

The son of the former president is linked to the company Inmobiliaria San Cristóbal Ltd., allegedly

Holding 55% of Grupo de Inversión Mundial, S.A., the company that obtained the concession contract of Buko Millionario .

In less than nine months of operation, Buko Millionario earned gross revenues of $12.5 million.

The contract was canceled by the Games Control Board (JCJ) in 2014.

Since December 2, 2015, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office had attempted to investigate the accounts of Martinelli Linares, until the amparo presented by his defense attorney, Luis Eduardo Camacho González who is the spokesman of the ex-president and has described  multiple criminal investigations against the family as “political persecution.”