Martinelli's wife facing criminal probe

Marta Linares de Martinelli, wife of Panama’s  former president, Ricardo Martinelli is the latest member  of the  Martinell family to face criminal investigation after failing with three ploys to dodge an inquiry into the Blue Apple scandal.

Her husband is in  El Renacer prison awaiting trial for illegal wiretapping of at least 150 victims, while her two sons – Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares- are on bail of $1 million each in Miami, while awaiting a hearing to decide on their extradition to Panama to face multiple corruption charges, following their arrest after an Interpol red alert. Her brother-in-law Mario Martinelli  is also facing several investigations.

A Panama  Court  has  given a green light to an  order of inquiry of the former first lady, within the Blue Apple  money laundering investigation for the alleged payment of bribes by contractors of the State to former government officials after it declared unproven an incident of controversy presented by her  defense

The office of the public prosecutor handling  the  Blue Apple  case , has already been notified of the decision of the court, which considered that the decision ordering the investigation is duly motivated.

 Her sons,are also implicated in the case.

She  was summoned to respond for the Lemar foundation, which allegedly received unjustified payments from state contractors.

 Last September, she went to the prosecutor’s office, but he accepted article 25 of the  Constitution  so as not to file a statement . The article says: ” No one is obliged to declare in a criminal, correctional or police matter, against himself, his spouse or his relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity . ” Then she presented a medical disability  crtificate and the controversial incident that has now been resolved in favor of the prosecution.

Linares de Martinelli has  said  that she has been the legal representative of the foundation since 2016 and that the facts investigated date back to 2012. But, at that time she was listed as treasurer of the foundation.