$75 million assets of Martinelli witness seized

ANOTHER player in an allegedPanama bribery scandal – what former President Ricardo Martinelli calls “an Italian soap opera” – has been arrested in Italy and over $75 million of his family assets have been seized.

 Angelo Capriotti, former former boss of Mauro Velocci and Svenmark the company that was to build modular prisons in Panama – – has been detained by agents of the Guardia di Finanza in Rome and all of his assets have been confiscated while he facesce serious charges.
Capriotti is one of the few who have defended Ricardo Martinelli I the alleged bribery scandal and a telephone conversation between Valter Lavitola and one of Martinelli’s Ricardo “Rica” Martinelli Linares sbout a helicopter for his father reports La Prensa.
The confiscation of the properties of Capriotti was ordered by the Court of Rome, who accuse him of embezzlement and fraudulent bankruptcy.
The prosecution believes that the wealth accumulated by Capriotti comes from years of blatant corruption and crime.
Capriotti has been arrested and charged several times. in the past The last time was at the airport in Zurich in 2013, when he was accused of international corruption in Panama.
The Naples Prosecutor is investigating alleged payment of bribes of between $15 million and $20 million for a contract of more than $200 million to be awarded to Svenmark to build modular prisons. In this case, the main suspect is Valter Lavítola, but the summary of the process remains secret.
For this new process dates back to 2008, when the legal action against the employer was ordered by the prosecutor of the Court of Rome, Nello Rossi.
Researchers believe that the Capriotti family hid assets worth more than $20 million, primarily in the company Costruzioni Generali Spa Sie, which falsely declared bankruptcy in 2011.
The prosecutor accused the Capriotti’s of having falsely bankrupted four companies that would have diverted more than $5 million, relating to debts with creditors, first in Brazil and then in Panama, the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera reported.
The Guardia di Finanza of Rome, has also verified a tax evasion of up to $15 million and in August confiscated a property in Brazil
Like Capriotti, Lavítola, a central figure in bribery allegations against government figures in the Martinelli administration has also seen his assets disappear.
La Prensa revealed in October that Lavítola confessed to prosecutors that former President Martinelli had requested a helicopter in return for contracts awarded to Italian companies.
Lavítola commissioned Velocci to searchfor an aircraft with specific characteristics, including upholstery by Hermès. Both Velocci and Lavítola gave details of how to carry out the purchase.
Capriotti argued before prosecutors that Lavítola and Velocci sought to blackmail the Panamanian president. In a statement released Martinelli Linares last year, appointment Capriotti in a statement to prosecutors: “Lavítola simulate Velocci had ordered the acquisition of a helicopter, with interior fittings by Hermès, as a gift to the son of President Martinelli, but he knew nothing of such an acquisition. The recorded talk with with Rica Martinelli Rica] was to blackmail the president
But in an interview on April 9, 2013, Capriotti radically changed his strategy. He told the judges that during the trip to Panama by then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi-in June 2010-Lavítola got hookers and escorts and then recorded the encounters.
Capriotti also revealed details of the payment of bribes by Devor Diagnostic linked to businessman Rogelio Oruna, who was described in 2012 by José Ramón Brea I, one of the partners of IBT Group Panama which earned hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts with the Panama State
According to prosecutors, “Ricardo Martinelli would be the hidden partner” in Diagnostic Devor, with bank accounts in United States. Naples prosecutors felt the accounts were for bribes to Panamanian officials.
Capriotti told prosecutors he heard recordings of a dialogue between the Italian ambassador in Panama, Giancarlo Curcio, his assistant Mauro Rossini and Saverio Velocci on “the explicit requirement of $22 million by Martinelli as bribe for the construction of the modular prisons, “according to the documents consulted reported La Prensa.