Business leaders worry over Supreme Court, Martinelli plenary

Panama’s Chamber of Commerce has added its voice to the concerns of Civil Society, Transparency International,  and  Cardinal José Luis Lacunza over the deliberations of the Supreme Court about the current hearing conducted by a judge of guarantees into the illegal wiretap activities of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli.

In a statement signed by its president Gabriel Barletta on Sunday, Jul. 6 the Chamber of Commerce indicates that it is  aware  that the Plenary of the Supreme Court has a transcendental decision in its  hands  to set a precedent, with respect to its competence in attending to the wiretapping case against Martinelli and whether it gets moved to a regular criminal court, a move that Martinelli avoided by  becoming a deputy in what he labeled  “a den of thieves,” the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) when he fled the country.

He notes that the country’s attention is once again concentrated on “the performance of our institutions, this time on account of the decision that the Supreme Court finally adopts in relation to its jurisdiction in the case of Martinelli.”