Martinelli dodges Spanish Court bullet

Former President Ricardo Martinelli, investigated in Spain for his possible connection to the bribery scheme that involves Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), heeded a summons from the National Court of Spain on Friday to render an investigatory statement reports La Prensa

However, once the videoconference diligence he refused to answer the questionnaire from the prosecution and only answered what his lawyer asked him.

At the request of the magistrate, he stated that he would avail himself of his right not to testify and would only answer questions that his attorney asked him.

In this way, Martinelli refused to answer the questions of the Anticorruption Prosecutor of Spain, in charge of María Teresa Galvez. He also refrained from responding to the questionnaire prepared by the International Baltasar Garzón Foundation.

But the ex-president offered his followers a very different version of events says La Prensa.

“I have declared voluntarily, renouncing all my rights, in a process that I have absolutely nothing to do with. It was invented by a Mr. Garzón, for political reasons that I do not know, ”he said in a video that he published on his Twitter account.

The National Court ordered in April of this year to have Martinelli under investigation, as part of the process that the FCC is following for international corruption.

The judicial investigations seek to discover the payment of bribes to Panamanian officials by FCC executives, in exchange for public works contracts, and the possible laundering of funds in Spain.

It is known that at least one property valued at more than 4 million euros and located in one of the most luxurious neighborhoods of Madrid, was acquired with funds, presumably from accounts in Switzerland and Andorra, fed with illicit funds.FCC received at least half a dozen contracts between 2009 and 2014. According to reports made by two former executives of the construction company, it is known that Martinelli government officials demanded the payment of “commissions” for each of the works that were awarded, equivalent to 10% of the value of the contracts.

Commissions

According to these reports, FCC participated, together with Odebrecht, in the organization of the corrupt plot, in the stage of the illegal award of the works. FCC and Odebrecht were partners in some works, such as Line 1 of the Panama Metro.

The payments, in both cases, were made through a plurality of public limited companies that ended up in bank accounts in Switzerland and Andorra, and in the purchase of assets and businesses around the world.