Former Panamanian President Martinelli did not attend the hearing where he was charged with corruption

Panama City, November 29. The hearing, in which a Panamanian court will decide former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) on appeal for alleged money laundering in the purchase of a media conglomerate, began this Tuesday without being held before the accused.

The “norm” that Judge Baolísa Marquínez will decide to “subpoena or dismiss Martinelli” for the so-called New Jobs case “doesn’t say that he should personally attend this type of hearing,” the constitutional expert told EFE Ernesto Cedeno, a Panamanian.

Martinelli’s defense attorney, Luis Eduardo Camacho González, attended the hearing, and so far delayed the hearing against him last January, claiming that he had electoral criminal jurisdiction at the time.

In the opinion of several legal analysts, including Cedeño, this “symbolic” case concerned the 2010 acquisition of the media conglomerate Grupo Editorial Epasa, for alleged money laundering involving a dozen local banks in Switzerland, China and the United States. .UU.

The Prosecutor’s Office said that, according to the investigations of the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office), $43.9 million was transferred in a complex plan to buy the holding, which managed to buy back “9.2 million shares” by 2019. office

“Dirty money was used in these transactions,” Prosecutor Uris Vargas said on Tuesday, backing up his allegations. It is owned by “New Business Services Limited”.

After the Prosecution, Camacho González said it would be Martinelli’s turn to present the allegations that Martinelli intended to provide “evidence” that the former president “wasted money from his money to acquire a means of communication”. reporters, minutes before the trial starts.

For the New Employment case, 20 people have already been summoned to a hearing set up as the main date between 17 – 28 April 2023 and as a substitute from 23 May to 5 June of that year, as decided by the Third Section president. Court Criminal Cases liquidator in a decision last October.

Marquínez also temporarily suspended 9 people investigated for money laundering charges.

Most of the preliminary hearing has already been held, so Cedeño told EFE he believes Martinelli’s trial could end this Tuesday.

Cedeño added that the judge will “decide at this same hearing whether he decides or accepts a particular condition.”

“This is an iconic case and without crucifying anyone, people should feel that the Judiciary is working. There should be a definitive punishment for those found to have committed an illegal act. In high-profile cases, the Justice administration looks the other way,” he stressed.

Martinelli, who was acquitted in two cases for allegedly eavesdropping on more than a hundred people’s communications, is one of 36 people on trial for money laundering in the Odebrecht bribery case.

In addition to money laundering allegations in Panama, the former president is being investigated in Spain for alleged bribery, which Spanish construction company FCC admitted to paying in Panama, and another for alleged spying on another woman. Mallorca