Two more witnesses intimidated by Martinelli threats

Two Spaniards join the list of witnesses who have suffered intimidation after testifying in processes linked to former President Ricardo Martinelli. They are two former executives of the company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), who testified about the payment of millionaire bribes in the government of the aforementioned former president.

The former senior executives of FCC, when giving an investigation for their participation in the payment of bribes in Panama, described the corruption scheme imposed on contractors by government officials: they inflated the prices of public works, including the Hospital City and it was agreed with the distribution of tenders and the channeling of payments through a financial framework to launder ill-gotten funds.

Martinelli is on trial for the wiretapping that took place during his tenure. In the process, multiple private conversations of political opponents, journalists, union and civil society leaders, and even commercial competitors have come to light, which was later used as instruments of blackmail, or reproduced on social networks or media related to the president, in order to discredit and intimidate them.

Last Monday, the threats targeted a witness who had just finished testifying at the hearing. The pattern is not new: there are dozens of lawsuits against journalists, intimidating messages, defamatory videos circulating on networks and, with this, physical aggression, which Martinelli himself – that is, its author – confirmed out loud reports La Prensa.