Martinelli business associate dodges corruption inquiry
ANOTHER high profile businessman under investigation in corruption scandals is “out of the country” and was a no-show at a scheduled appearance before Organized Crime Prosecutor Nahanial Murgas on Wednesday July 29 .
Nicholas Corcione Pérez-Balladares a Panama Canal director and business associate of Ricardo Marinelli, was to face questioning in a money laundering investigation of accounts linked to jailed former magistrate of the Supreme Court Alejandro Moncada Luna.
Murgas confirmed on Tuesday that Roberto Moreno, lawyer for Corcione Pérez-Balladares, declined to attend the diligence, as he claimed, his client is out of the country on a family trip scheduled from February.
Murgas said that a new date for the interrogation will be set.
Moreno said accusations made against Perez-Balladares Corcione by by Maria Gabriela Reyna and Jorge, Espino who are preventively detained, are false and he will submit evidence to the prosecution to prove it.
Espino told the prosecution that on the instructions of Corcione Pérez-Balladares he paid $400,000 to Cubemu, SA, linked to Ricardo Calvo, Moncada Luna and Felipe Virzi; and another $200 000 Collection GC, SA, allegedly linked to the management of the Canal.
Reyna said Pérez-Balladares Corcione referred her to Espino, who helped to “disguise” the payment to Cubemu, SA
In an interview in 2005, Corcione Pérez-Balladares said that one of the leading partners in the Group Corcione was former President Ricardo Martinelli, “with whom we have developed three projects, Punta Pacifica: Pacific Place, Courtyard View, and Ocean Park complex ” reports La Prensa.
