Five years after the start of the investigation, in a hearing that will be broadcast in real time, the prosecution will support its theory to call 62 people to trial for corruption, including former presidents of the republic Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) and Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019).
The case is in the hands of Judge Baloisa MarquÃnez and the hearing will begin in the courtroom of the High Court of Liquidation, located in the Gil Ponce court.
However, defense attorneys for the defendants predict the possibility of suspending the process due to the failure to carry out several procedures.
For its part, the media in the coverage indicate expectations for Martinelli’s participation in the hearing, because the electoral court has not yet decided on the review of the court’s ruling that authorized the lifting of electoral criminal jurisdiction so that he can appear.
Among the accused, the two sons of the ex-president, Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique, imprisoned in the United States for the same crime, who declared themselves responsible for taking bribes and sending money to fake accounts, also stood out, in order. 28 million dollars.
The Martinelli Linares brothers were arrested in Guatemala on July 6, 2020, at the request of the United States.
Luis Enrique was delivered on November 15, 2021 and Ricardo Alberto on December 10 of that year. the former pleaded guilty on December 2nd; And the second on the fourteenth of the same month.
The Third Criminal Cases Liquidator Court of the First Judicial District of Panama indicated that it has an alternative date for this hearing from 12-30 September this year.
According to analysts, Odebrecht is embroiled in the largest corruption scandal on the continent, and admitted to the US authorities that it paid bribes in a dozen countries, almost all of them in Latin America, where it was fined $2.6 billion.
In Panama, the company and the attorney general’s office agreed in 2017 that the company would pay the state about $220 million over 12 years.
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