Embezzlment hearing for fugitive Martinelli “messenger boy”
A preliminary hearing for Adolfo “Chichi” De Obarrio, former private secretary of ex-President Ricardo Martinelli, and Abraham Wiliams, accused of embezzlement has been called for July 25.
The likelihood of De Obarrio and Williams showing up in the 12th Criminal court is remote as they are both fugitives,
De Obarrio gained notoriety for his $750,000 wedding while earning a $5,000 a month salary, and at age 28 was known as Martinelli’s messenger boy, delivering orders to the directors of the National Assistance program,(PAN) where Williams was an assistant.
Willims and his wife fled the country on Christmas Day, 2015, as investigators closed in.
The two men are wanted, for embezzlement and corruption of public servants, in the case known as “backpacks”
Judge, Leslie Loaiza, who opened criminal proceedings against De Obarrio and Williams for embezzlement, corruption of public servants and fraud in public procurement acts that damaged the now-defunct National Assistance Program (PAN) ordered the arrest and capture of both by the National Police, the National Aeronaval Service, the National Border Service and the Directorate of Judicial Investigation and requested a report from the National Immigration Service.
Red Alert
The judge ordered an Interpol red alert for De Obarrio In the same order he dismissed another 15 accused persons in the case of buying backpacks through the PAN.
Among the dismissed are the former Minister of Education Lucy Molinar; Mario Martinelli Berrocal (brother of the ex-president); Giacomo Tamburrelli, former director of the PAN (2009-2012), and the businesswoman Poullette Morales.
The judge also ordered the lifting of the personal and real precautionary measures imposed on these people, as well as the return of assets, bank accounts, movable property and real estate generally apprehended in this case.
The judge based his decision on the investigative statement and the collaboration agreement of Rafael Guardia Jaén, who was director of the PAN (2012-2014), Williams was his assistant
Guardia a indicated that he received instructions from Adolfo De Obarrio, who “chose which companies should be hired, that is, that both participated in the crime,” according to a statement from the Justice Department
In a hearing held on May 23, Guardia agreed to the collaboration agreement and was held criminally responsible for the crimes of embezzlement, corruption of public servants and fraud in public procurement.
The investigation for possible $12 million cost overruns in the purchase of school bags, through the PAN, was initiated on September 5, 2014, by the Second Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP).
Guardia was in preventive custody between 2014 and July 2017 for various cases of corruption related to his management at the of PAN.
