Accused Martinelli siblings were lobbyists -defense

Ricardo Alberto Rica and Luis Enrique Kike Martinelli Linares did not receive bribes; They served as lobbyists Luis Eduardo Camacho González, a lawyer for the children of former President Ricardo Martinelli told Judge Baloísa Marquínez on Tuesday, September 27, the twelfth day of the Odebrecht hearing.

He said that the Panamanian government paid $2 million to a firm to represent the country in the extradition process that took place in the United States. States, between 2017 and 2018, to bring the former ruler to Panama.

Then, he stated that he does not understand why the lobbying service that Panama paid for “is good”, but the one that his clients did in favor of Odebrecht “is wrong”.

“We want the Martinelli brothers to be judged for having done lobbying,” he said.

The Martinelli Linares siblings are currently serving a sentence in the United States for laundering at least $28 million in bribes from Odebrecht, through the US financial system. Both confessed to a New York judge that they committed the crime following their father’s orders.

In the tax hearing of the case followed by the Public Ministry of Panama, the statements of André Rabello, former head of Odebrecht in Panama, stated that from the moment that Martinelli won the election Kike and Rica approached him to offer their brokerage services and speed up payments and addenda in favor of the construction company.

Meanwhile, Alma Cortés supported Importadora Ricamar, SA, and Linda Gesto, a personal friend of Martinelli known by the pseudonym “Periquito uno” in the computer system used by Odebrecht to pay bribes.

said that the prosecution initiated the investigation without an alert from the Financial Analysis Unit (UAF), as established in the Penal Code.

The UAF was under the control of Martinelli, in the Presidency.

She stressed that the company was limited to receiving or making payments by Cambio Democrático, a group that Martinelli founded and presided over.

She  accepted that Importadora Ricamar received $2.6 million from Caribbean Holding (from Aaron Mizrachi, Martinelli’s brother-in-law), but that this money was from accounts receivable from Importadora Ricamar related to the CD campaign and that they were reported to the Electoral Tribunal. Therefore, the competence to investigate these facts would be the TE.

Regarding Linda Gesto, she said there is no evidence that the money she used on her credit cards came from any illicit activity, as the protected witness Rodrigo Tacla Durán assured. Cortés alluded to a report from the prosecution in which it is revealed that Gesto, along with three other friends of Martinelli, received payments in the nature of family support through the PKB Bank, in Antigua and Barbuda.