Fallout  from Martinelli – Panama not trusted

The video of former president Ricardo Martinelli with the alleged husband of one of the judges who formed the  Trial Court that acquitted Martinelli of illegal wiretapping is not evidence but a “clue” that the Public Ministry must investigate lawyer and columnist Rodrigo Noriega told TVN.

What proceeds now, according to the lawyer, is to go to the main sources, that is, Martinelli to verify the reality of the fact. If he denies that the other person is the husband of Judge Marisol Osorio, then summon him to know his version, and later the Public Ministry must use the technology they have to identify people and thus corroborate who it is.

If it is verified that it is not the judge’s husband as stated in the video, FOCO would have to compensate or apologize, otherwise, if it is indeed the judge’s partner, then there is a chain of events.

“I was concerned by the lukewarm response from the Judicial Branch,  They are required by law to investigate this type of event, verify with the judge if the person is her spouse or not. This administrative investigation has to be done.”

For Noriega, there are means that could prove that there was a patrimonial movement, but the important thing is that there is interest in investigating before the possible evidence can disappear.

Another statement that draws Noriega’s attention is the one issued by the US Department of Justice, about what happened in New York, where they thank the prosecutors who participated in the process, the Swiss Public Ministry, and the authorities. of Guatemala and El Salvador, but it missed our Panama, which means that Panama did not cooperate or was not part of the process.

Noriega says that the international community is sending strong messages from countries with robust judicial systems that “Panama is not trusted, ” so it is they who have to see these cases, highlighting that in New York, already there are two convictions for money laundering.

Law of gravity
“They laundered the money from an Odebrecht bribe, above all for a relative who was a high-ranking official between 2009-2014, we all know who that relative is. That is not a fact under discussion, it is not a novel, it was not the Parallel Prosecutor’s Office, the rival president did not invent it, no one invented it, this is a fact practically like the Law of Gravity”, he said

It recognizes that corruption cases neither begin nor end with the Martinelli family, but are part of the country’s history, because it is a pending debt of Panamanian democracy, to have a justice system that truly confronts corruption.

The lawyer considers that it is necessary for the Public Ministry to be activated because there are frozen monies in Switzerland and Andorra, as well as assets in Spain.

“Prosecutor Caraballo has been acting for nine months if the government of President Cortizo had wanted to ratify it in the National Assembly it would have done it a long time ago if it has not done so it is because it of animosity from certain deputies towards the persecution of drug trafficking and Prosecutor Caraballo represents that, ”said Noriega.