Ex-con sons of Martinelli  spotted in Buenaventura

The mystery of the whereabouts of the children of former President Ricardo Martinelli has been cleared up. Witnesses told La Prensa investigative journalist Ronaldo Rodriguez that they personally saw them ride mules on the beach of the Buenaventura residential complex, in the province of Coclé, where their father has a mansion.

The brothers Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares arrived in Panama last Wednesday night, after serving a sentence in the United States for the Odebrecht case. Both pleaded guilty to conspiring to receive bribes, allegedly for their father, and confessed to having laundered at least $28 million which, according to Luis Enrique Martinelli’s lawyer, James MacGovern, they did “on the father’s orders.” ”.

Rica Martinelli, the eldest of the former president’s children, was seen on a mule, in the company of three other people, while they were driving between the Buenaventura mansions. Kike, the elder brother, was also seen at the Felipe Motta liquor store in Buenaventura, while his mother, Marta, was waiting outside.

Further charges
Apparently, returning to the country to take refuge in the luxurious house in Buenaventura was always the plan of the former president’s children, who all three face money laundering charges in Panama for the same case: Odebrecht.

On June 23, 2020 –in the midst of the pandemic–, the lawyer of one of Martinelli’s sons asked the Government for authorization –for humanitarian reasons– to allow a private plane to land in Panama that would bring his client and his immediate family back to the country, a trip that his brother, Ricardo Alberto, also tried to sneak into.

The brothers were received on Wednesday by their father at Tocumen airport, who, for this purpose, carried, along with his escort, security passes that allowed him to see his children in areas prohibited to the public.

 In turn, the Judicial Branch sent officials at night to notify the defendants of the proceedings against them, for which they had to post $14 million in bail to cover the two.

No reconciliation
According to publications on social networks, he could not see his children in Tocumen. The publications assure that the ex-convicts refused to see their father, while Martinelli assured the media outside that he was celebrating “family reconciliation.”

La Prensa has no confirmation that the former president is in Buenaventura.

Rica and Kike Martinelli, who were cooperating with the FBI in 2020, fled the United States and tried to reach Panama on the aforementioned private flight, but encountered obstacles from the Minister of Health, Rosario Turner, who was fired by President Cortizo.

They were arrested in Guatemala and extradited to the United States, where they pleaded guilty to the aforementioned crimes.