Witness lifts lid on Martinelli era spying activities
The protected witness in the trial of Ricardo Martinelli for illegal wiretapping and embezzlement has produced some powerful revelations with fingers pointing directly to “Number 1” as the three-man spy team called Martinelli
He has also revealed the presence of Israeli experts to provide training and support and detailed the presence of equipment (now disappeared), in offices of the Martinelli owned Super 99, where he met Martinelli’s personal secretary Adolfo Chichi de Obarrio (now a fugitive)
Prominent oppositions, journalists businessmen and even Supreme Court judges were included on the list of monitored “targets” with daily reports transcribed and delivered in a yellow envelope to the then president,
The witness, a graduate in computer science, from the Technological University of Panama joined the National Police as a researcher and at the end of 2009 was recruited as a member of the Security Council.
During his testimony appearance, the witness not only acknowledged that the team did illegal wiretapping but even confessed he himself made taps and them, said that he transcribed the conversations they were collecting through the
Da Vinci and Pegasus equipment could intercept phone calls, emails, WhatsApp conversations, bb pin, photos and even cell phone cameras. The systems were so
sophisticated that all theat information collected was sent to Ronny Rodríguez’s emails with a copy to William Pitti whose mission was to analyze it and determine to send it to number 1, the witness said.
He said stressed that Rodriguez recruited him when the government changed in 2010, who explained that an elite group would be formed to intercept calls for number 1, in this way the According to this testimony, the target of the interceptions were people from different sectors of Panamanian society, politicians, including members of his own CD party businessmen, journalists, and citizens assigned by Rony Rodríguez.
Among the names he has mentioned are: Mitchell Doens, Juan Carlos Varela, Balbina Herrera, Juan Carlos Navarro, Yassir Purcait, Vivian Torrijos, Martín Torrijos, Leandro Ávila, Pedro Miguel González, Javier Martínez Acha, Francisco Sánchez Cárdenas, Adolfo “Beby” Valderrama, Erasmo Pinilla, José Judges Ayú Prado and , Víctor Benavides, José Luis Varela, Jorge Alberto Rosas, Priscilla Miró, Zulay Rodríguez, Mirta Varela, Rómulo Roux, Genaro López, José Muñoz, Saúl Méndez, Silvia Carrera, and Stanley Motta, Álvaro Alvarado, Castalia Pascual, Syria Miranda and Rubén Polanco.
The witness validated contents stored in CDs and previously analyzed in the oral proceedings.
Defense lawyers have complained about the length of the trial and Martinelli who earlier wanted a day off each week for health reasons asked the court to meet on Saturdays. The request was denied.
Martinelli has been in the El Renacer prison since June 11 last year when he was extradited from the United States after spending a year in a Miami detention center.
