Prosecutor asks bail cancelation for fugitive in US
An Organized Crime Prosecutor has asked the 18th Criminal Court to cancel the $250,000 bail of a Ricardo Martinell insider who had fled the country and was picked up in the USA last week.
The bail to avoid arrest was granted on July 27, 2017, to businessman Gabriel Gaby Btesh, under investigation for alleged money laundering during the purchase of Editora Panamá América, S.A. (Epasa) supposedly with public funds, in a case labeled New Business.
In a letter sent to the court on March 23, Prosecutor Raúl Sánchez said that the petition is due to news published a day before – on March 22 – according to which Btesh was apprehended by agents of the US Immigration and Customs Control Service of the United States for alleged problems with his visa. According to the prosecution, the above “is of particular importance in the complex case that his office manages
The prosecutor argued, that the accused “has not fully complied with the obligations imposed by bail legislation “
He also warned that the record shows that Btesh left Panama on September 14, of 2014; that is, more than three years ago.
For the reasons stated, the prosecutor Sanchez called for the provisional detention of the accused.
Judicial sources informed La Prensa that Btesh has not paid the amount of the bond.
Red Alert
On August 3, 2017, the Office of the Prosecutor against Organized Crime requested Interpol to disseminate a red alert for the arrest of Btesh, whom he links to the case through the Pavilion Financial Company, which participates together with the merchants Felipe Pipo Virzi and David Ochy, in one of the suspicious transactions made for the purchase of the Epasa group, now said to be controlled by ex-president Ricardo Martinelli.
