Guatemala court  starts extradition  process  for Martinelli son

The Fifth Criminal Court of Guatemala on  Friday, August 7 announced the start of the extradition process of Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, the son of former president Ricardo Martinelli wanted in the United States for alleged money laundering and conspiracy to launder money linked to Odebrecht.

The court – made up of three judges – granted a period of up to 40 days for the United States to present the formal request for extradition and the supporting documents. “Failure to do so within the given period, “the measures of coercion will be revoked and the release of the requested person will be ordered.” The decision was adopted on July 24

Luis Enrique and his brother Ricardo Alberto were captured in Guatemala on July 6, when they were trying to board a private plane to Panama. Since then, they have been the Mariscal Zavala military prison.

The extradition for Ricardo Alberto is in the Third Criminal Sentencing Court, which has not yet released a decision. His lawyer, Denis Cutesy, challenged the court and apparently will do the same in the Fifth Court.

Cuesy alleges that the brothers are alternate deputies of Parlacen and that the arrest violates their “benefits” as diplomats but was never sworn in as alternate deputies and the Parlacen rejected a move to do so.

According to the US indictment, the brothers  participated as “intermediaries” in the receipt and payment of bribes for $28million, “under the direction of Odebrecht.”

The payments would have benefited a Panamanian official, whose name has not been noted in the documents released so far (but he is described as “an official with a very high position in the government of Panama a “close relative” of the two defendants.” between 2009 and 2014, when Martinelli was president.