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Articles about the sons of Martinelli will now be found here https://chiriqui.life/topic/17753-martinelli-sons-for-trial-in-usa/

The "New Business" trial involving Martinelli & others can be found here https://chiriqui.life/topic/19951-new-business-trial/

Also see https://chiriqui.life/topic/7880-“blue-apple”-corruption-scandal for more postings involving the Martinelli family, especially the two Martinelli sons.

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1 hour ago, Marcelyn said:

 Could this indicate that Ricardo Martinelli is running out of “defense money”?

...and hope.  Sad situation.  

When I'd screw up as a kid my mother would say: " This is the life you've chosen".   I hated that but it seems to have stuck. 

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Reports  of Martinelli wiretap threats resurface

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Giacomo Tamburrelli,
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As reports of Panama  Interim Supreme Court president being compromised by a recording continue to roil civil society and the legal community, reports have resurfaced of alleged threats by ex-president Ricardo Martinelli, accompanied by his former dirty tricks operator, the former Tourism director, Salomon Shamah.

La Prensa reports that on December 18, 2014., Giacomo Tamburrelli, one of the ex-directors of the now defunct National Aid Program (PAN) in the Martinelli government, made a public report: that he had been taped and was threatened with the recordings.

After a visit by Martinelli to Tamburelli ’s wife in one of his restaurants, Tamburrelli revealed that he was told to keep quiet, since he was cooperating fully with the Public Prosecutor’s Office in investigations of the National Aid Program, in which,  Martinelli’s name frequently appeared.

Tamburelli  aired the statements in an interview with then TVN news anchor  Edwin Cabrera,  “I’m not afraid,” he said in the interview and

gave details of what happened in December 2014, when Martinelli and Shamah, visited the Il Nono, restaurant where they were served by his wife.

“Martinelli came, with Salo Shamah to my wife, to intimidate her, with a series of recordings of mine. I know the system well … you record part of me, you cut it,  edit it and when you run it, it seems like a soap opera “. he said The incident was never investigated.

Tamburrelli warned that he was concerned about the safety of his wife and sons. “Mr. Ricardo Martinelli,  you have full security … and one of the first things that you wanted was to intimidate me, you wanted to buy  my silence and I’m not going to accept, “he said

The event – which took place shortly before Martinelli left the country in January 2015 – becomes relevant today, after Attorney General, Kenia Porcell, revealed that the interim president of the Supreme Court Hernán De León, confessed to her that he was  the object of blackmail – fact that the official denies – because of illegal recordings that are being used against him, in order to knock down the  wiretapping case faced by  Martinelli in  the Supreme Court of Justice.

In both 2014 and 2018, Martinelli  denied threats against the complainants.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/reports-of-martinelli-wiretap-threats-resurface

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Court rejects latest Martinelli defense ploy

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The defense of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli got another setback on Thursday, August 16, when the plenary of Panama’s Supreme Court decided not to accept the protection of constitutional guarantees in the process against him for the alleged interceptions of communications during his administration.

The magistrates decided to maintain the competence of the wiretapping case in the Supreme Court despite the repeated request of the defense to send them to the ordinary jurisdiction as the former president resigned his seat. in the Central American Parliament, in June.

The Amparo was presented on July 25, 2018, after the judge of guarantees Jerónimo Mejía refused to annul the process due to an alleged violation of the electoral penalty.

The intermediate heating of the process is scheduled for August 23 when the prosecuting magistrate, Harry Diaz returns from vacation.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/court-rejects-latest-martinelli-defense-ploy

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“Italian” Multi-Millionaire Martinelli said a flight risk

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Martinelli flaunts Saints and Sinners reading material
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Ricardo Martinelli is a multi-millionaire has Italian nationality and financial assets around the world and remains a flight risk say the complainants in the wiretapping case against the former president in presenting their opposition to a  move to seek bail.

He is currently in from detention in El Renacer prison where h has already been granted special comforts not available to those who sweat out years awaiting trial in the overcrowded La Joya hell hole

Martinelli is charged with allegedly spying on communications of at least 150 people, with allegations by Attorney General Kenia Porcell, that Interim Supreme Court president Hernan De Lion that the victims could number 5,000 and that there are recordings of him, allegedly used for blackmail purposes.

The bail request will be analyzed by the plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice in a hearing convened for August 28.

Carlos Herrera Delegate, lawyer of Mauro Zúñiga a complainant in the process, recalled that on June 19, the Court decided not to change the provisional detention, after warning that there is a risk of flight, as well as the lack of cooperation of the ex-president to the process. “These circumstances have not changed,” warned the jurist.

In the ruling, the plenary of the Court argued that there are procedural dangers and provisional detention must be maintained

The lawyer says that the Martinelli legal team “has not brought any new element” that changes his condition to be worthy of bail.

Escape route
Herrera Delegado argued that the Italian nationality of Martinelli, would allow him to flee to that country “to evade the process”, reports  La Prensa.

Rodolfo Pinzón, lawyer for the PRD  leader Balbina Herrera, suggested the Court take as reference the considerations made by US  federal judge Edwin Torres, who on July 7, 2017, denied a bail request to Martinelli,  when his extradition process was aired. Torres assessed the risk of flight, given that Martinelli “is certainly a millionaire” and maintains commercial interests throughout the world. “This Court cannot lose the control it has over him until the process is over,” said Torres.

Nicomedes Castillo, lawyer of former presidential candidate Juan Carlos Navarro, agreed that there is no variation in procedural conditions of the accused,  and  the Court must ratify its initial criterion to maintain provisional detention.

The intermediate hearing resumes on Thursday, August 23 before judge of guarantees Jerónimo Mejía.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/jailed-multi-millionaire-martinelli-a-flight-risk

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Marta Martinelli seeks to muzzle media to protect family image 

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La Prensa journalists face the media
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PANAMA’S former first lady Marta Linares de  Martinelli has s filed a claim “for family protection and the family image”, in which she asks La Prensa to cease and refrain from disclosing and publishing facts or situations of a private nature, “As part of a media campaign” against her family.

Five journalists from La Prensa attended the Family Court on Tuesday. August 21

The claim arises from reports in  La Prensa, which mention the link of her children with the Odebrecht case, under investigation by the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office.

In the lawsuit, which was filed by lawyer Jamie Acosta, the attorney for the former first lady, the publications “have undermined the human dignity, honor and decorum” of the families Martinelli Berrocal, Martinelli Linares and Linares Brin de Martinelli, and are infringing on the articles 577 and 578 of the Family and Minors Code reports La Prensa.

The lawsuit seeks to “order print media,  television, radio and social networks, and especially La Prensa,  to cease and abstain from disclosing  or publishing  facts and situations of a private and family nature, and the first and last name or general surnames of the family group, as part of a media campaign against members of this Panamanian family. ”

The journalists Rolando Rodríguez – associate director of La Prensa-, Eliana Morales, Yolanda Sandoval, Juan Manuel Díaz and Olmedo Rodríguez appeared in court reports La Prensa

All answered questions as witnesses of the process and stated that the notes were based on reports of the judicial proceedings against members of the Martinelli Linares family.

Swiss probes
“We, in general, have responded that the reason why they are mentioned is because of the investigations carried out by local and Swiss authorities, Brazil and other countries. That is the reason for the mention of these people in the news, “said Rolando Rodriguez.

“The intention of this demand is for the media to refrain from mentioning the name of the Martinelli Linares family in cases that are carried out in the courts of justice … It is absurd that the Martinelli family ask that this is not mentioned when it is already of public character p and its research is well known in other countries and here, “said Rodríguez. Neither the former first lady nor her lawyer attended the proceeding.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/marta-martinelli-seeks-to-muzzle-media-to-protect-family-image

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Martinelli wiretapping case postponed

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The accusation hearing against former President Ricardo Martinelli in the wiretapping case, set to resume on Thursday, August 23, has been postponed, at the request of the defense.

The Judiciary reported on Wednesday that it will now be held  on Wednesday, August 29;

Martinelli is charged with alleged embezzlement and crimes against the inviolability of secrecy and the right to privacy. Prosecuting magistrate Harry Diaz is asking for a 21- year jail term.

The hearing has been in recess since August 6, when the magistrate Jerónimo Mejía, acting as judge of guarantees, authorized the defense to have access to the contents of seven files, with intimate information on the “targets ” of the Council of National security. The break coincided with Díaz’s vacation.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-wiretapping-case-postponed

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Martinelli bail hearing on Sep.10

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Martinelli claims rights abused
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The hearing to discuss bail for former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) for the case of illegal wiretapping was postponed on Thursday, August 13 at the request of the complainants and will be held on September 10.

“At the request of a complaint, a hearing before the Supreme Court of the CSJ (Supreme Court of Justice) is suspended, where a bail of release and a de facto appeal, which was presented in the case through telephone interventions, will be rescinded and reprogrammed for the September 10, at 9 am, “said the Judicial Branch on Twitter.

The plaintiffs and alleged victims of the wiretaps were not going to be able to attend because they had other commitments.

The Supreme Court had already postponed until  August 29 the resumption of the intermediate hearing, at the end of which the judge of guarantees, Judge Jerónimo Mejías, must decide whether to send  Martinelli to trial. With the prosecutor calling for a 21-year jail term.

The defense of 66-year-old Martinelli, claims he is innocent and a victim of political persecution. He has other corruption cases open.

Last week the wiretapping case was shaken by the denunciation of Attorney General, Kenia Porcell, of a supposed blackmail of the interim president of the Supreme Court, Hernán De León, to allegedly manipulate the case.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-bail-hearing-on-sep-10

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Journalists unite to oppose Martinelli muzzling moves

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La Prensa journalists after court hearing
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The Forum of Panama Journalists for Freedom of Expression and Information and the National Journalism Council, in a joint statement, have expressed their “deep concern and strongest rejection” of the threats of lawsuits filed in civil, criminal and judicial jurisdictions.  By the Ricardo Martinelli family and his legal defense team  the family against journalists, citizens and the media reports La Estrella

The Martinelli family has undertaken legal actions that seek to order print media, the television, radio and social networks to refrain from publishing the name or surname or family surnames of Martinelli Linares report

The daily  La Prensa has a lawsuit before the Family Court for this cause.

The Forum  and the Journalism Council, in defending the principles of freedom of the press and of expression, and the right to information that all citizens have, made a call to the Judicial Branch and the Public Prosecutor’s Office to  “remain alert to  the practice of abusing the institutional justice system, as a tool of censorship, intimidation, and persecution of the freedoms of expression and information”.

Thes practices constitute, according to the organizations, a violation of both the Constitution of the Republic and the American Convention on Human Rights, which states that “every individual has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; This right includes the right not to be disturbed because of their opinions, to investigate and receive information and opinions, and to disseminate them, without limitation of borders, by any means of expression.”

Based on the foregoing, the organizations expressed their deep concern and their strongest rejection of the threats of lawsuits and claims filed in the civil, criminal and family jurisdictions against journalists, citizens and the media by the family of the former president Ricardo  Martinelli.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/journalists-unite-to-oppose-martinelli-muzzling-moves

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Isabel De Saint Malo accuses Martinelli of "extortion campaign" in Panama

Mon, 08/27/2018 - 17:50

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Panamanian vice president and chancellor Isabel De Saint Malo today accused jailed former president Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) of promoting an "extortion campaign to intimidate" country's journalists and authorities.

The statement of the vice president was released after defenders of Martinelli filed a criminal complaint for libel and slander against two very critical civil leaders of the former head of state, who has been detained since June 11 in the framework of the trial for alleged illegal wiretapping during his Government.

"I join citizen support for @aplanells @marielaeledezma against absurd lawsuit filed against them. We cannot allow the abuse of the system by those who must be held accountable. It is an extortion campaign to intimidate journalists and authorities," wrote this Sunday De Saint Malo on Twitter.

The lawsuit against Anette Planells and Mariela Ledezma was filed last Friday before the Public Prosecutor by two lawyers of Martinelli, including Alma Cortés, requesting a 2-million-dollar compensation from each of those implicated for insults and slander.

Planells, director of the Independent Movement (Movin), expressed in a letter on her and Ledezma's behalf that "they will respectfully await the authorities' response" and that "as usual, we will continue to issue our opinions responsibly."

"We cannot allow anyone to thwart our freedom of expression (...) once again they are trying to use the judicial system to prevent criticism and thwart the freedom of expression of people who are concerned about the national future," added Planells in her letter posted on Twitter.

The lawsuit against the civil leaders is added to another one filed earlier this month by Martinelli's lawyers against De Saint Malo, to which they ask for a 20-million-dollar compensation for allegedly having mishandled the former president's extradition from the United States.

Martinelli was surrendered last June 11 to Panama by the United States, where he was imprisoned for one year because of the extradition request for illegal wiretapping to more than a hundred politicians, journalists, businesspeople and even personnel of the US Embassy, according to the complainants.

Attorney Cortés told Efe on August 7 that they would file lawsuits against judicial authorities and plaintiffs in the case of illegal wiretapping, with arguments such as alleged "abuse of authority" and for making "public accusations disqualifying" Martinelli.

Former first lady Marta Linares de Martinelli also filed a complaint requesting that "the media be ordered ... especially the newspaper La Prensa, to cease and refrain from disclosing or publishing facts and situations of a private and family nature, and the first and last name or surnames in general of the family group, as part of a media campaign against the members of this Panamanian family".

"The complaint is to request family protection and the family image protection, for publishing journalistic news linking Martinelli's children with the Odebrecht case, which is investigated by the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor," according to the newspaper La Prensa.

The brothers Luis Enrique and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares, according to the government of Panama, allegedly received millionaire bribes from Odebrecht, and were accused of money laundering in January 2017 by the Prosecutor's Office and have orders for international search and seizure.

According to his lawyers and his mother, Marta Martinelli, these accusations are nothing more than a political persecution of Ricardo Martinelli, with the intention to involve his children as revenge and they are innocent of these accusations.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/isabel-de-saint-malo-accuses-martinelli-extortion-campaign-panama-7685

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Martinelli reads while lawyers argue “desperate actions”

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Martinelli- with book- and his legal team M artinelli Martinelli,-with book- and his legal team
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Ricardo  Martinelli, Panama’s ex-president returned to the Supreme Court on Wednesday Aug. 29 for the intermediate hearing of his illegal wiretapping case. The ex-ruler who has been out of the limelight  since the case was adjourned on August 6 took little interest in the proceedings which could end up with a lengthy jail term and continued catching up with his reading as lawyers traded barbs  before the judge of guarantees Jerónimo Mejía

The ex-ruler who has been out of the limelight  since the case was adjourned on August 6 took little interest in the proceedings which could end up with a lengthy jail term and continued catching up with his reading as lawyers traded barbs  before the judge of guarantees Jerónimo Mejía

During the adjournment Carlos Carrillo, coordinator of the defense team was granted access to seven files containing illegal recordings and transcripts. He immediately presented objections to the use of the recordings by the prosecution saying that the defense considers the evidence illegal.

Carlos Herrera Morán, attorney for complainant Mauro Zúñiga, said that the new objections are another “desperate actions” by Martinelli’s defense that invents that the recordings and the corresponding transcripts are illegal to discredit them. ”

He assured that the recordings recovered by the prosecution comply with the rules of the chain of custody and are an important part of the process currently in the Court. and said the objection of illegality has no legal basis.

In the last hearing, Judge Mejía granted Martinelli’s defense access to the booklets, under a special regulation, to avoid leakage of the information that appears there.

The seven booklets had been kept in reserve since the beginning of the process.

Martinelli has been in detention in El Renacer prison since June 11, when he was extradited from a Miami  Federal detention center that housed him for a year after his arrest near his luxury mansion in Coral Gables. [story developing]

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-reads-while-lawyers-argue-desperate-actions

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Ex-president  threatens he will “denounce all”

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Martinelli shouted on the way in and out of court hearing
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AN  ATTEMPT by the defense team of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli to present “in person” complaints in the National  Assembly earned  a  swift rejection  from the judge of guarantees, in the ex-president’s  wiretapping intermediate hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 29.

Martinelli entered and left the court with verbal outbursts aimed at media .

Responding to lawyer Alma Cortes  who asked  for  an authorization for Martinelli to be allowed to  make complaints against the magistrate Hernán De León and Attorney General Kenia Porcell , Judge Jerinimo Mejia said:  there was no legal authority that  allowed him to let a prisoner  out of El Renacer Penetentiary for such  a mission.

Martinelli’s request included a permit to go “in person” to the National Assembly, to the Administrative Prosecutor’s Office and the Public Ministry to present  a lawsuit against the interim president of the Supreme Court Hernán De León and Prosecutor Porcell related to   a conversation  between them that was revealed by Popcell

When he left the court to return to el Renacer , Martinelli shouted that they did not let him denounce anyone, but that he will “denounce them all”.

Earlier Carlos Carrillo, the only defense lawyer  with access to the seven booklets containing recordings and transcripts  of wiretappings  claimed that  several of the  recordings  in the were “illicitnt” and he  alleged lack of chain of custody of equipment or devices storage of the information of the alleged eavesdropping ordered by Martinelli. “The chain of custody was omitted, I think, because of the illegality of the test,” said  Carrillo.

The defender claimed that in many cases  relationship “between what is there and the signs  of proof  against Martinelli…. Do not exist”

“The evidence invoked does not correspond to the material examined in the seven booklets, “Carrillo said. “the way in which they were collected is illegal  and irrelevant because procedural principles have been violated. ”

Judge Mejia adjourned the hearing until September 18, when prosecutor Harry Diaz will respond to the defense comments.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/ex-president-threatens-he-will-denounce-all

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Martinelli setback in embezzlement case

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Panama’s Supreme Court unanimously rejected  an appeal of constitutional guarantees presented by lawyers for former president Ricardo Martinelli, in the investigation of multi-million dollar embezzlement in the purchase of dehydrated food in the National Assistance Program (PAN)

Martinelli’s lawyers filed the guarantee protection on June 7, 2016, requesting the annulment of an order of the prosecuting magistrate of the case, Oydén Ortega, who requested information from a bank account of Javier Pariente,  a businessman linked to the ex-ruler.

The information request of the Pariente account was made by the public prosecutor Ortega on June 26, 2015.

The Court decided not to admit the appeal because it was untimely. The April 4  of this year ruling It indicates that the protection of guarantees was not filed within the period of 3 months established by law. Judge Efrén Tello was the rapporteur.

The imputation hearing has not yet been held.

Martinelli has been imprisoned in El Renacer jail for the wiretapping case after being extradited from the United States to Panama, on June 11.

The indictment hearing on the telephone intervention case resumes on  September 14.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-setback-in-food-embezzlement-case

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Martinelli attacks presiding judge's decisions in trial for wiretapping

Sat, 09/08/2018 - 20:09

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The defense of former President Ricardo Martinelli, arrested for alleged illegal wiretapping during his administration, today filed two constitutional guarantees against presiding judge Jerónimo Mejía, for recent decisions taken in the trial against the former president for this case, Carlos Carrillo, coordinator of Martinelli's defense team, told Efe.

Carrilllo said the two legal actions were filed by him this Friday before the Panamanian Supreme Court.

The amparos attack decisions issued by the magistrate presiding judge on August 29 at the resumption of the indictment hearing against the former head of state (2009-2014).

Carrillo explained that one of these decisions was "the order not to rule the objections before the presentation of the defense evidence", and the other "to postpone the reply of the Prosecutor (Harry Díaz) to the objections of the evidence (contained in 7 booklets with the wiretaps) for up to 15 days".

On August 29, the indictment hearing against the former president was resumed after three weeks suspended, but it entered a new recess, until September 14, after the Prosecutor's Office requested time to respond to the objections of the defense.

The prosecutor, who asks for 21 years in prison for Martinelli, requested the recess to prepare his response to the objections presented that day by the defense against the evidence included in his indictment, some of which were branded as illicit and irrelevant by the lawyers of the former president.

The recess was decreed on August 6 so that the defense, specifically Carrillo, reviewed the seven booklets with the transcript of the illegal wiretaps allegedly ordered by Martinelli between 2012 and 2014 to more than a hundred people.

At the end of this indictment hearing, which began on June 25, the presiding judge must decide whether or not to go to oral trial.

Martinelli, who claims to be innocent and a victim of alleged political persecution, is being held in a minimal security prison located on the outskirts of the Panamanian capital since June 11.

That day the former president, 66, was surrendered to Panama by the US authorities, where he was imprisoned for one year because of the extradition request for wiretapping.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/martinelli-attacks-presiding-judges-decisions-trial-wiretapping-7799

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Panamanian Supreme Court will decide whether to grant Martinelli's release on bail

Mon, 09/10/2018 - 18:21

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The Panamanian Supreme Court today began debating whether to grant a bail of release to former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), in preventive detention since last June for alleged political wiretapping.

"The hearing begins before the plenary session of the CSJ (Supreme Court of Justice) to grant the bail for release and de facto appeal filed by the defense in the case known as wiretapping," the Judicial Branch said on Twitter.

The defense of the former president, a 66-year-old billionaire businessman for whom the Prosecutor's Office asks for 21 years in prison for alleged wiretapping to a hundred people when he was president, seeks that the plenary session of the highest court changes the precautionary measure of preventive detention by house arrest, according to local media.

Martinelli's attorneys said last week that they will use the retraction of a witness who three years ago accused the former president in the plot of illegal wiretapping as an argument to support the request for bail of release. He now claims that he was pressured by the current administration.

The retraction of the former security agent Jaime Agrazal, according to Martinelli's defense, shows that the case is "manipulated" and that it is really a "political persecution" plotted by the current president of the country, Juan Carlos Varela, who was his ally and his vice president.

Martinelli's spokesman and former communications secretary, Luis Eduardo Camacho, announced on Sunday that he will sue for 120 million dollars to several government authorities for having built a "chimbo" (unfounded) process to incriminate the former president, among them members of the Ministry of Security and the country's attorney general, Kenya Porcell.

The plenary session of the Supreme Court and unanimously rejected on June 19 to grant a bail of release to Martinelli when it considered that the defense did not provide sufficient arguments.

The trial against Martinelli is held in the Supreme Court because he was a deputy of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) when he was formally charged in October 2015, although his defense seeks to have the case transferred to an ordinary court and alleges that the former president resigned last June to the regional as regional deputy.

Martinelli, who has other cases for corruption pending with the Panamanian justice, is being held in a jail on the shores of the Panama Canal since June 11, when he was extradited from the United States, after spending about a year in a federal prison in Miami.

His defense said he was extradited under a specialty provision included in a bilateral treaty between Panama and the United States and therefore he can only be tried in the Central American country for the case for which he was surrendered, the alleged illegal wiretapping.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/panamanian-supreme-court-will-decide-whether-grant-martinellis-release-bail-7812

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Extradited Martinelli claims he returned to  defend his name

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Ex-president Ricardo Martinelli, who lingered in a Miami detention center for over a year while a team of  US lawyers  fought his extradition to Panama to face trial for wiretapping told Panama Supreme  Court  judges on Monday,  September 10 that  he could have stayed in Miami, United States “all the time I wanted, but I preferred to return to my country to face this case, I came to defend my name and I will defend it with my life”.

He was seeking bail for $250,000. a fraction of what he proffered to a US  judge who rejected his appeal because he was considered a flight risk.

“I have the right to be given bail for health reasons …it cannot be that there is one law for Martinelli and another for others,”  he said during his presentation at the hearing with the plenary of the Supreme Court.

He said  that he had nothing to do with the wiretapping  because he did not participate in the meetings of the Security Council, while he was president, at the same time he said that “anyone who has  wiretapped should  feel the full weight of the law”

Prosecutor Harry Diaz asked the court not to grant bail for the former president who  represents a risk of flight, “by sea, land, and air.”

Diaz also questioned the fact of Martinelli’s nominations to several positions in the 2019 election for 2019. “If his condition is so ‘serious’, why is he running for an elected office,?” he said.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/extradited-martinelli-claims-he-returned-to-defend-his-name

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Martinelli wiretapping hearing resumes Friday

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The  Supreme Court hearing into the alleged wiretapping of over 150 Panamanians during the Ricardo Martinelli administration resumes on Friday, September 14 before the judge of guarantees, Jerónimo Mejía who will decide on the admission or denial of evidence presented by the prosecution and defense.

Meanwhile, the Martinell defense team continues to unearth fresh diversionary moves and seeks bail for their billionaire client, detained since June 11 in El Renacer prison, after being extradited from the United States.

They argue that he deserves bail on health grounds. They also claim that their client has family and business ties in Panama and therefore, does not represent a flight risk.

Carlos Herrera Morán, attorney for complainant Mauro Zúñiga, said that the Court cannot give Martinelli bail because he has all the financial resources to get out of the process and leave the country, as he already did when he fled to the USA.

Herrera Morán explained that a federal judge in the United States denied bail to the former president when he was detained in Miami during the extradition process. He said that on that occasion he was denied bail because of the immense resources that he has and the danger of flight that this represents reports La Prensa.

On Friday, the prosecuting magistrate  Harry Diaz, who is calling for a 21-year jail term, must refute the objections made by lawyer Carlos Carrillo, the only member of Martinelli’s defense who had access to the transcripts of the wiretaps.

During a  press conference on Sunday, September 9 the  Martinelli team of lawyers announced that they will file criminal complaints against the head of the National Security Council (CSN), Rolando López; the  Attorney General Kenia Porcell; and members of the  National Police involved in the alleged threats made to witnesses Jaime Agrazal, Ronny Rodríguez and Izabel Stanziola.  Martinelli lawyer Alejandro Pérez said that in addition o the criminal complaints they will request a $120 million civil remedy.

Pérez referred to the retraction of former CSN official Jaime Agrazal during the hearing followed by the former heads of the CSN Gustavo Pérez and Alejandro Garuz in the wiretapping case in the Sixteenth Criminal Court.

The lawyer said that there is a video spread by social networks, in which Ronny Rodríguez, an ex-member of the CSN, claims to have been subjected to pressure and coercion by Rolando López, CSN officials, and the Public Ministry. Rodriguez has not appeared in the process and is on the run.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-wiretapping-hearing-resumes-friday

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Supreme Court rejects Martinelli bail request

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PANAMA’S Supreme  Court has rejected a bail application by former president Ricardo Martinelli, who has been held in El Renacer prison, since his extradition from the USA  on June 11.

With a majority vote of 5 to 4, after an 11-hour hearing the plenum of the Court of rejected the request in the case in which Martinelli is charged with illegal wiretapping.

With his economic resources, and Italian citizenship he was considered a possible no-show at hearings and as some of the spying equipment has not been recovered the possibility of destruction of evidence exists.

Judges Hernán De León, Wilfredo Sáenz (alternate for Harry Diaz), Luis Mario Carrasco (acting for Jerónimo Mejía), Oydén Ortega Durán and Abel Zamorano voted against granting  bail.

Cecilio Cedalise, Asunción Alonso (substitute of José Ayú Prado), Ángela Russo and Efrén Tello  for (substitute Luis Ramón Fábrega) saved their votes.

According to Judge De León, president of the plenary, the Defendant Martinelli’s defense only informed the court that he is not involved in the eavesdropping, but did not provide more information about the untying of their client with the facts.

Regarding the state of health of the ex-ruler, the ruling indicates that the Judge of Guarantees  Jerónimo Mejía has guaranteed due process for his medical needs.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/supreme-court-rejects-martinelli-bail-request

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Martinelli defense calling 28 witnesses

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MOLTO,PEREZ and GARUZ
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The high-end defense team of Ricardo Martinelli has produced a list of 28  witnesses testimonial and 64 documents that will be used to attempt to disassociate the ex-president from charges of unauthorized interception of communications by the National Security Council (CSN), and embezzlement between 2012 and 2014.

In the list of witnesses presented by  Carlos Carrillo and Sidney Sitton, at the Friday, September 14 hearing are Julio Moltó, Gustavo Pérez, and Alejandro Garuz. Moltó served as director of the CSN from July 2010 to March 2012; Pérez, from March to September 2012, and Garuz, from September 2012 to July 2014. Garuz is related by marriage to Martinelli.

The defense will also call as witnesses former agent Ronny Rodríguez and his assistant  William Pitti. Both are fugitives from trial in the 16th Criminal  Court in which Perez and Garuz are charged with wiretapping.

Pérez, Garuz, and Moltó are also witnesses of the prosecuting magistrate, Harry Díaz,

The defense included as witnesses at least 16 CSN officers, the Comptroller’s Office and the National Police, which are also witnesses of the prosecution.

Until now, the defense has not mentioned as witnesses Demetrio Papadimitriu and Roberto Henríquez, ministers of the Presidency in the last government, who are among the witnesses that Díaz will call.

Magistrate Harry Diaz stated in the indictment that Pérez, in his January 2015  investigation by the Auxiliary Prosecutor’s Office said that the CSN operated an “intelligence group that reported directly to the president “, who was then Martinelli.

Pérez confirmed to the prosecutor’s office that Ronny Rodríguez, a member of the National Police in the CSN, “delivered envelopes directly” to Martinelli, in the Presidency, on the wiretapping of more than 150 people.

Also In the list of witnesses  are the deputy commissioner of the National Police Gustavo Chong Hon and commissioner Belsio González, former chief of the National Aeronaval Service.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-defense-calling-28-witnesses

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Penitentaries boss denies Martinelli deprived of rights

Posted on September 18, 2018 in Panama

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MARTINELLI displays reading material at court 
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The director of Panama’s  Penitentiary System has rejected complaints that ex-president Ricardo Martinelli is being denied certain prisoner rights.

Etéreo Armando Medina, told media on Tuesday September 18, Martinelli  enjoys  the same rights as others deprived of liberty inside the El Renacer prison.

He said that the ex-ruler is allowed to attend religious  acts that he himself has requested and that also he has the right to his time of on  the patio, like other detainees.

Martinelli is being held at El Renacer Prison and is being prosecuted by the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), for the case of illegal wiretapping during its administration between 2009 and 2014.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/penetentaries-boss-denies-martinelli-deprived-of-rights

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Martinelli lawyers re-play losing health card

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MARTINELLI, at an earlier court Appearance. Sick or playacting?
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The high-priced battery of lawyers striving to save Panama’s ex-president  Ricardo Martinelli from spending many of his remaining years behind bars spent  most of  the three hours of Tuesday’s  Supreme Court  indictment  hearing  presenting the list of witnesses and the evidence they will  use, and  then they threw the Judge  a surprise curveball asking for yet another medical evaluation.

Martinelli is charged with illegal interception of communications of at least 150 opposition politicians, journalists, businessmen, and lawyers. The prosecuting magistrate Harry Diaz has called for a 21-year jail term. The ex-ruler is also under investigation in another dozen cases of alleged corruption and embezzlement involving scores of millions of dollars.

Before the judge of guarantees, Jerónimo Mejía, the defense announced 28 witnesses, 87 documents and three expert opinions.of which Diaz, said that he would object to 21, and asked Judge Mejía four working days to examine them.

Mejía agreed to the request and denied an objection from the lawyer Sidney Sittón pointing out that the defense has had since 2015 to review the files.

Evaluation nixed
In another episode one of the Martinelli lawyers  Holland Polo asked Judge Mejía to order the re-evaluation of the medical condition of her client and that it be done by the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Imelcf).

Mejía said he was confused by such a request because, after June 11 and 12, when Martinelli was examined, until now there has not been a new incident regarding his health condition that allows him to order a re-evaluation.

Mejía said: “Martinelli’s state of health is reflected in the documents, you want to know the state of health, there are the papers” referring to the opinion of the doctors who have treated him.

“If this is not an expert test, what is it? It sounds like expert evidence and an expert evidence is based on making a request, this is what has me tangled up,” said Mejía.

Polo responded that they are not asking for an expert evidence or that a precautionary measure is given because it is not the judge’s competence.

Prosecutor Díaz questioned that the issue of health continues to be raised. on this judicial platform

Mejia said;”I’m clear about how I’ll have to make the decision,”, and closed the hearing and until   Wednesday, September 26.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-lawyers-re-play-losing-health-card

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Martinelli lawyers invoke den of thieves to annul charges

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During his election campaign, ex-president Ricardo Martinelli famously referred to the  Central American Parliament (Parlacen) as a “Den of thieves” but the day after he left office jetted to Guatemala to join the august band with multiple pending corruption investigations to justify his membership.

He then took refuge in Miami where he endeavored to control his own band of marauders in Panama, substituting “political persecution” for his earlier worn out  “in the shoes of the people” slogan.

Today, as the courts and prison cells fill up with the wearers of the  magic shoes which  guided them to the nations treasure chest, the capo is padding the bank balances of  a team of lawyers using every legal strategy  they can devise to keep him from  joining his former  inner  circle members for an extended period behind bars, using the Parlacen den  of thieves as a ploy.

They  have submitted  a request to the Supreme Court  for the annulment of the  wiretap investigation with Carlos Carrillo, s arguing  for Martinelli that   the immunity from investigation  Martinelli enjoyed  when he was a deputy of the  (Parlacen) had been violated

He sats that Martinelli could not be investigated without requesting the removal of the immunity before the Parlacen. The appeal was assigned to Judge Angela Russo, who must prepare a draft decision for a vote, of the nine magistrates of the Court to t decide whether or not to grant the amparo.

The wiretapping criminal process is in the intermediate stage, in which the judge of guarantees Jerónimo Mejía, must decide if the case goes to the trial stage. The hearing resumes n Wednesday, September 26. Be sure the Martinelli lawyers will be working on new rearguard ploys.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-lawyers-invoke-den-of-thieves-to-annul-charges

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The Martinelli dream team at heaven’s gate

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If at death I am taken before the Creator to judge me by my actions in earthly life, I would like to have on my side – as a technical defense – Martinelli’s team of lawyers, who will put in reasonable doubt not only my own words and my actions – in order to prolong my judgment to eternity – but I would hope that God would absolve me of my sins and let them be judged for wasting his  time writes Rolando Rodriguez in La Prensa.

The trial of Martinelli started years ago, but his tour in several countries to denounce his imaginary alleged political persecution stopped it until last June, after a year of fighting his extradition.

In comparison, one of the most powerful men in Brazil, the tycoon Marcelo Odebrecht, was arrested on June 19, 2015. His condemnatory sentence was heard – along with his 22 attorneys- on March 8, 2016.  it took Judge Sergio Moro to condemn him to  232 months in prison.

In Panama, the ex-ruler, who almost doubled the number of his supermarkets during his presidency, he arrived back Panama on June 11, although the entire judicial process against him began in 2015, precisely the year in which he started -and finished his international tour with a single stopover: Miami.

Well, when I’m accounting for my sins, I want [Martinelli lawyer] Carrillo to demand the unconstitutionality of the 10 commandments; and I will ask [Martinelli lawyer]  Sitton to question God’s legitimacy to judge me. It cannot be that my creator also judges me. That goes against my human rights. God cannot be judge and jury in any way. That surely goes against due process. Also, I’ll ask  Holland Polo [who got extra comforts  for Martinelli in prison]  to get me a cell in the sky, and see if she can get Saint  Peter  to work for me as a butler, because to go to a cell in  hell, that is to violate the Bible, since I have not been condemned. Ahhhh, I forgot. And since on Earth they are very likely to create rumors, I will ask [Martinelli spin doctor Camacho to be my heavenly spokesman and warn them that from hell I will sue. He will have to go to the Vatican and ask for my immediate beatification and canonization and to ask the pope on duty how much it costs to avoid all that long process to be declared holy. I want a picture of a statue of me, in the pose of a saint, so that Jehovah will see that the Pope idolizes me. That will help  I notice, for the umpteenth time: I’m more holy than that nun… I’m talking about Teresa of Calcutta

The problem is going to be how to settle my accounts with these people. Well, God will have to pay for them, after all, I am his son too. So I’ll send the bills to him.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/the-martinelli-dream-team-at-heavens-gate

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Prosecutor mulling appeal of $37 million returned to embezzler

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Cristobel Salerno
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The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office is analyzing whether it will file an appeal against  a first criminal court decision  that ordered the unfreezing of $37.3 million deposited in accounts of a man who stole millions from the state and who said he took suitcases stuffed with cash to the office of Ricardo Martinelli when he occupied the presidential palace .

On September 18 the first criminal judge, Agueda Renteria. ordered the unfreezing  of $37.3 million in savings accounts, currencies and fixed terms of companies linked to Cristóbal Salerno

Judicial sources say  that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office is  awaiting  notification  to evaluate the eight-year jail term  given to Luis Cucalón, former director of the General Directorate of Income, for embezzlement and corruption of public servants, in the investigation related to the irregular collection of taxes through Cobranzas del Istmo, S.A. (CISA), owned by Salerno.

The money was provisionally frozen by order of the Fourth Anti-Corruption Prosecutor.

The judge argued that since there is already a conviction against Salerno -of 48 months jail time  and the confiscation of $20.6 in an agreement with the Public Ministry, “you cannot apply another accessory penalty ” and “the corporations whose bank accounts are frozen were created long before the of January 25, 2010, contract  by means of which Cobranzas del Istmo -property of Salerno- was authorized for the collection of deferred taxes of the State”

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/prosecutor-mulling-appeal-of-37-million-returned-to-embezzler

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