Man linked to Martinelli spying, arrested in Colombia

Mizrachi Mayer Matalon, investigated for allegedly committing crimes against Panama’s public administration, was arrested   on an Interpol red alert warrant in the Colombian city of Cartagena.

I nterpol and the Directorate of Criminal Investigation of Colombia have released a video which shows the arrest of Mizrachi  on Tuesday evening.

The vidoe shows the transfer of Mizrachi from the city’s airport to the headquarters of the directorate. Mizrachi was then taken to Bogota.

The Panamanian citizen was stopped due to a “red alert” issued in November by Interpol at the request of the first anti-corruption prosecutor investigating Mizrachi for offences against the public administration.

He arrived in Cartagena Tuesday afternoon from Fort Lauderdale.

He is the son of Aaron Mizrachi, the brother-in-law of former President Ricardo Martinelli. He is being investigated for irregularities in a software contract his company received shortly before Martinelli left office.

The First Anti-Corruption Prosecutor is investigating him for allegedly installing the software to encrypt messages for  personnel in the security sectors.

The Martinelli government awarded a direct contract in March 2014, two months before the elections.

Significantly, says TVN, Panama  Mayer Mizrachi entered Colombia from Fort Lauderdale (Florida) a hop and skip from Miami. It was known, he lived in New York, where he ran a technology development company.

Ronny Mizrachi whose current whereabouts are unknown is the sole shareholder and legal representative of Caribbean Holding Services, a company that was used to acquire an  $8 million, eavesdropping  machine from  the Israeli NSO Group during  Martinelli’s government.