Two ex-presidents will face Odebrecht bribes trial

The Second Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases set the date of the trial of 32 people (including two former presidents Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela) for the bribes that the Odebrecht company distributed in Panama from November 12 to December 19, 2024.

More than 160 documentary evidence, 63 witnesses, and 20 expert reports will be used in the Odebrecht trial

Previously, the trial was scheduled to take place from July 15 to August 23, but everything changed when two defendants appeared, Gonzalo Eduardo Monteverde and María Isabel Carmona, who were in absentia and were finally located, through international assistance, in Peru.

On February 2, Judge Baloisa Marquínez announced that Monteverde and Carmona would be tried starting November 12. But on February 20, she signed a resolution in which she announced that all the accused would be tried on that date and not just the two former fugitives.

Monteverde and Carmona, who reside in Peru, were notified of the trial date but did not have the opportunity to present evidence in time for the trial to be held in July.

In the resolution of February 20, Judge Marquínez notified the lawyers of all the defendants of her decision and also appointed the lawyers Fernando Peñuelas, Edgardo Buitrago, Ricardo Vial de Brandao, Rosario Granda, Carmen Tovar, Roummel Salerno and Luis Carlos Tapia as public defenders, in case any of the private lawyers do not appear at the trial.