Martinelli manipulated Petaquilla shares, Shamah asked for $1million – witnesses

MAYTE PELLEGRINI the only person to be charged in the Financial Pacific (FP) $14 million embezzlement scandal,, insisted, under oath, Friday, October 31 that the former president Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) had an account at the brokerage under the name of High Spirit, used to manipulate the market shares of Petaquilla Minerals.

Pellegrini, under heavy guard, was taken to the Fourteenth Prosecutor for an expansion of its investigation, said that on December 26, 2012  she recanted these statements because, in return, then-Attorney General Jose Ayu Prado, promised to revoke his injunction  of preventive detention.

Ayu Prado was subsequently appointed to the Supreme Court by Martinelli and is now its President. 

“She retracted her earlier statement about Martinelli, because she had an agreement with Ayu Prado that if she recanted, Ayu Prado would lift the detention injunction. That was missed and she has now  confirmed that Martinelli had the High Spirit account  “said Pellegrini’s  attorney,  Kevin Moncada, at the conclusion of the proceedings in the Prosecutor’s Office  reports La Prensa

$1 MILLION FOR FREEDOM
He also said that former Tourism Minister Solomon Shamah,  a close confidant of  Martinelli, asked for “a million dollars in exchange for her freedom.”

The message was forwarded through lawyer Mauricio Ceballos, who then acted as an attorney for Pellegrini.

Shamah,  contravesial reign as tourism czar, was marred by the withdrawal of his US visa after DEA allegations of his involvement in narco trafficking were published on WikiLeaks,After tearfully offering his resignation  he was kept at the helm, and was later implicated in the dirty tricks camaign of the previous administration.

Earlier, Kevin Moncada said that almost two years have passed since his client requested the judicial process.

INTERFERENCE

He added that a commander of the Directorate of Judicial Investigation (DIJ) tried to prevent Pellegrini attending  the expanding investigation on the grounds that the prisoner had a doctor’s appointment at the same time, and therefore not could attend the hearing.

Moncada said that he referred the situation to the head of the DIJ, Marcos Cordova, who reported that the commander would be sanctioned.