Martinelli should explain relationship with Italian fugitive: Varela

President Ricardo Martinelli should explain his relationship with Valter Lavitola, a fugitive from Italian Justice says former foreign minister and current vice president, Juan Carlos Varela.

A warrant for Lavitola’s arrest was issued after he had been linked to the alleged extortion, of more than a million dollars from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

"They [Martinelli and Lavitola] are very close," said Varela, without elaborating, said La Prensa.
Varela said Lavitola was presented as an assistant to Berlusconi on his arrival at the Palace of the Herons in June, when they signed a contract with Finmeccanica for $333.3 million for the purchase of helicopters, coastal radars and mapping of the country.
On Wednesday, September 14, Martinelli declined to comment on Lavitola when approached by the media. All that was said, claims La Prensa, was that "Italian politics is very folksy. We dedicate ourselves to work in Panama." The version of the figure of Lavitola as " private assistant" to Berlusconi matches the answer given to Varela by Public Security Minister, Jose Raul Mulino, on Wednesday, when he said publicly that Lavitola had seen "out there" and had even welcomed him. "About three times I have said, 'Hello, how are you?' ”
After the the alleged extortion scandal became Lavitola reported that he worked as a consultant for Latin America until last June, a month he was in Panama.
Lavitola confessed to an Italian newspaper that he is in Panama to avoid capture.
While Mulino claimed to have had only chance encounters with the Italian, Varela said the $333.3 million amount agreed in the contract with Finmeccanica, was for the purchase of equipment for the national security team and "Lavitola negotiated with them all”.