Colombian prosecutor seeks jail for Panama trip by Martinelli lawyer

The Colombian Attorney General’s Office requested before a judge this Tuesday, March 8, that criminal lawyer Diego Cadena be sent to prison after he traveled to Panama despite the fact that a home security measure had been imposed on him.

On February 15, Cadena, who is being prosecuted for alleged crimes of procedural fraud and witness bribery, traveled to Panama City.

International media have published that one of the proofs of Cadena’s contempt is a photograph in which he is seen sitting in a restaurant in a hotel in Panama.

Cadena was a lawyer for former President Ricardo Martinelli, whom he represented in a case in which the Spanish newspaper El Mundo was sued, for a story published in October 2019, referring to the case followed by managers of the construction company Fomento de Construcciones and Contratas (FCC)  for payments of bribes in Panama.

According to the newspaper El Tiempo, Cadena was in Panama for a few days, despite the fact that in December 2021 a judge had revoked his freedom and ordered his house arrest.

Cadena was also a lawyer for former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.

According to Infobae, the prosecutor Daniel Hernández pointed out that, “for having defrauded the good faith of Colombian justice by having traveled to Panama during the month of February, despite the fact that since 2020 he had a house arrest measure, it is necessary that Cadena be sent to prison.”

During his statement, Hernández said that there are Colombian Migration records, which show that Cadena left the country without the permission of a judge.