Reports of fugitive’s Interpol arrest denied

News reports  that Adolfo ‘Chichi’ de Obarrio, former private secretary of ex-President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), had been detained in Italy by that country’s Interpol, have been rejected by his lawyer Victor Collado.

Collado sharply denied, on Sunday afternoon, that Obarrio is being held or that he has surrendered in Italy or in any country reports Mi Diario.

“They put us in a position to report that Interpol in Italy is holding Panamanian Adolfo (Chichi) de Obarrio. It is not clear yet if he was captured or if he turned himself in. We are seeking information with our correspondent in Rome to confirm, ” Edwin Cabrera, director of the Information Services of Radio Panama said earlier

However, hours later the information was denied by Collado, who assured RPC Radio that “Adolfo de Obarrio is not detained in any country.”

Radio Panama insisted with Interpol sources in Italy, but they explained that it is the Panamanian authorities who must make official the reports on the alleged retention of the former Panamanian official.

De Obarrio’s lawyer has stated that his client would face justice when there is the certainty of due process.

De Obarri has been being sought by the authorities for being allegedly linked to the crime against the public administration to the detriment of the defunct National Aid Program (PAN), in the forms of embezzlement, corruption of public servants, and alleged fraud. As a 28-year-old secretary to the president, he was known as the messenger boy at the PAN but a messenger with extravagant tastes who on a salary of $5,000 a month had a wedding reported to have cost over half a million dollars

The former official is considered a “fugitive from justice,” according to a ruling by Leslie Loaiza, Panama’s fifteenth judge, who called him to trial and denied a bail request in 2020. De Obarrio fled Panama with his wife on Christmas Day 1919  and was decreed in absentia since he has not yet appeared either in the Public Ministry or the court to face his legal process. An Interpol red alert was issued and he has been on the run ever since.