Ex-presidents sons in bribery probe

The two fugitive sons of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli are among the defendants in the investigation of bribes paid by the  Odebrecht construction company during the previous administration.

Martinelli is currently in El Renacer prison facing trial on wiretapping charges, with some dozen other corruption probes pending.

The list imputed by the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor has swelled from 62 to 72 people, judicial sources told La Prensa.

According to the sources, Dana Harris, director of the National Council of Sustainable Development during the last government (2009-2014), is one of the people who entered the list along with people linked to the Democratic Change ( CD campaign in past elections

The sources reported that the prosecution has also made requests to the Electoral Tribunal for the lifting of the criminal electoral law shield for several of the newly imputed.

The special anti-corruption prosecutor, Zuleyka Moore, has made trips to The Dominican Republic and Brazil in recent weeks,  to obtain judicial assistance

According to information revealed in 2017 to the prosecution by  Odebrecht collaborators  André Luiz Campos Rabello, Olivio Rodrigues Junior, and Luiz Eduardo Da Rocha Soares, the construction company paid over  $86 million in bribes and paid for presidential campaigns in Panama.

Among the alleged beneficiaries of the bribes are mentioned Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, sons of former president Ricardo Martinelli.