Former president circles legal wagons as cases close in
Former President Ricardo Martinelli will be back in court on Monday, July 13, in a hearing on the infringement of rights requested by his lawyers, in the case brought by the Public Ministry over to alleged irregularities in the management of funds of the State Savings Bank (CA) .
The case involves his alleged participation in the granting of a $9 million loan to the original contractor of the Amador Convention Center.
Roniel Ortiz, from Martinelli’s team of lawyers, confirmed that the hearing will be held after the Public Ministry carried out proceedings within this process, “despite the fact that the former president is protected by the principle of specialty”, contemplated in the extradition treaty agreed between the United States and Panama in 1904
Ortiz said that before doing any diligence, the Public Ministry had to go before a guarantees judge to determine whether or not his client is covered by the principle.
He said that in this case a warning was already presented to prosecutors about the existence of the specialty principle, but that it will now be up to the judge of guarantees to analyze the situation.
However, since January 17, a letter from the Foreign Ministry has been in the Public Ministry, stating the official position of the US State Department, which says that the principle of specialty is no longer applicable to Martinelli.
After renouncing his status as deputy of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) , the Supreme Court lost the competence to prosecute the former president and sent several complaints to the Public Ministry that have been kept pending.
Pending cases
Among them are the investigation into the alleged irregular collection of taxes through the company Cobranzas del Istmo; a complaint filed by Aurelio Camano for the alleged irregular purchase of land in the province of Veraguas, and a complaint for granting pardons to people convicted of common crimes.
In addition, there is a case related to the contracts for the supply of dehydrated food, as well as a complaint filed by the Superintendency of the Stock Market for the alleged use of privileged information for the purchase of shares in Petaquilla Minerals , through the liquidated Financial Pacific brokerage.
