“Biggest businessman in country” boasts Martinelli facing crime probe

Former  Panama president  Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014)  remained defiant claiming to be the country’s biggest businessman when he arrived at the office of the Second Special Prosecutor’ against Organized Crime, to face an investigation into alleged money laundering . in the case known as New Business, involving the purchase of the Epasa Group  (Publishers of Panama America and Critica allegedly with public funds.

Martinelli arrived at the office, in the Avesa building, on Via España, at 8:40 am, accompanied by a team of lawyers, bodyguards, and a spokesman reiterating the long-established “political persecution” mantra.

 He claimed the application of the specialty principle contained in the extradition treaty agreed in 1904 by the United States and Panama;, and accused prosecutors “of responding to former Attorney General Kenia Porcell,” who resigned in December and was replaced by Eduardo Ulloa.

“I am the largest businessman in this country, the one who pays the most taxes. If the law, the Constitution and international treaties violate me, what won’t they do to the rest of the investors? ” said Martinelli according to La Prensa.

Martinelli insists on the application of the specialty principle, despite the fact that the United States – through its embassy in Panama and the US State Department – has indicated that this principle is no longer in force because the former president has traveled outside of Panama since September of 2019.

Leaving the country is one of the exceptions to the specialty principle, as stated in the 1904 bilateral treaty.

The specialty principle implies that Martinelli could not be prosecuted for cases other than the one for which he was extradited by the United States, in June 2018: that of illegal wiretapping of political opponents, journalists and lawyers, .In this case, in August 2019, a court declared him “not guilty”, a decision that that is under appeal.

Ronier Ortiz, one of Martinelli’s lawyers, sent  a written ” warning ” to the prosecutor against Organized Crime, in which he maintains that his client “has not renounced his principle of specialty.”

On  Thursday, Martinelli told reporters that he will succeed in the New Business case, as he said – with the one involving the punctures, because they are “mounted” investigations.

Since December 2019, the United States has reported that Panama is free to prosecute and try Martinelli for other cases and there are at least six others waiting in the wings.