Corruption prosecutor appeals ruling on Super 99

The Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has filed an appeal against the decision of criminal judge Baloisa Marquínez not to prosecute Importadora Ricamar, S.A. for alleged money laundering and insists that the company did receive funds from Odebrecht.

According to the prosecution, the investigation shows that the accounts of Importadora Ricamar – which operates the Super 99 chain, owned by the family of former president Ricardo Martinelli) – were used to receive funds from the Odebrecht construction company’s Box 2, “that came from activities related to international bribery, corruption, and embezzlement.”

That money came to Ricamar, through the Caribbean Holding company, controlled by Aaron Mizrachi, Martinelli’s brother-in-law.

The payments that came to Ricamar, according to what André Rabello, former Odebrecht manager in Panama, declared, were compensation for “the favors rendered for the payments that were due [to Odebrecht] from the previous government and the projects that the company would carry out during the reign of Martinelli Berrocal”.

Alejandro Garúz, who testified in the process as the legal representative of Importadora Ricamar, pointed out that Caribbean Holding had no commercial or business relationship with the Super 99. Therefore, for the prosecution, there is no good reason to explain why Ricamar received funds. from Odebrecht, through Caribbean.

“The facts brought to the process show that the company Importadora Ricamar, S.A. merchant company active in our country, manipulated its commercial activity to give the funds received in its bank accounts from Odebrecht Box 2 a legitimate appearance, using the money triangulation scheme to divert attention from these illicit funds,” says the prosecutor, in his appeal brief, presented on November 16, in which he insists that the responsibility of the company is duly accredited in the investigation,” says prosecutor Ruth Morcillo in his appeal brief, presented to the Superior Court of Criminal Cases, on November 16.

On November 7, Judge Marquínez decided to call 36 people to trial for alleged money laundering but declared that it was not viable to open a criminal case against Importadora Ricamar, given that -according to the judge- the commission of a crime cannot be attributed. crime against a legal person.

But in her appeal brief, prosecutor Morcillo points out that in Panama there is a history of convicted legal entities. Specifically, she cited the case of the Campos de Pesé company, which was found guilty of crimes against the environment. Likewise, the prosecutor recalled that the courts have already analyzed the possible responsibility of Importadora Ricamar, by ruling on disputes and annulment incidents promoted by this company, precisely within the Odebrecht bribery process. At no time did the courts warn that this legal person was not responsible.

For the Odebrecht bribes, Judge Marquínez did issue a summons to trial for Martinelli, his two sons (Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique, imprisoned in the United States for laundering $28 million in Odebrecht bribes), former President Juan Carlos Varela, and several former ministers, on August 1-18, 2023. The alternate date was scheduled for September 27-October 17, 2023.