“Blue Apple” Corruption Scandal & Trial

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Nuevos fiscales, a audiencia por caso Blue Apple en noviembre

Juan Manuel Díaz C.

08 jun 2020 - 11:36 PM

Procurador Eduardo Ulloa. Archivo

Además de las rotaciones de fiscales ordenadas el pasado 25 de mayo, el procurador de la Nación, Eduardo Ulloa, dispuso este 1 de junio el cierre de la Fiscalía Sexta Anticorrupción, que tenía a su cargo la investigación por presunto blanqueo a través de la sociedad Blue Apple.

Ahora, este expediente será manejado por la Fiscalía Anticorrupción de Descarga, que deberá hacerle frente a la audiencia fijada para el 11 de noviembre próximo.

La resolución No. 7 del 1 de junio de 2020 alega que la medida se basa en el volumen de casos manejados por la Fiscalía Sexta y la necesidad de reorganizar la descarga de las causas bajo su competencia.

El titular del despacho, Aurelio Vásquez, quien investigó el caso Blue Apple y actuó en el juicio al expresidente Ricardo Martinelli por los pinchazos, fue rotado a finales del mes pasado.

Ulloa ordena cierre de fiscalía del caso Blue Apple

El procurador de la Nación, Eduardo Ulloa, ordenó el cierre de la Fiscalía Sexta Anticorrupción y dispuso que los expedientes radicados en ese despacho –incluyendo la investigación por presunto blanqueo de capitales a través de la sociedad Blue Apple– sean remitidos a la Fiscalía Anticorrupción de Descarga.

De acuerdo con la Resolución No. 7 del 1 de junio de 2020, publicada en la Gaceta Oficial 29042-B, del 8 de junio, la medida fue adoptada debido al volumen de casos que maneja la Fiscalía Sexta Anticorrupción.

El texto legal cita la Resolución No. 22 del 31 de marzo de 2016, que dispuso que las fiscalías Quinta y Sexta Anticorrupción pasaran a manejar procesos bajo el sistema penal acusatorio y, en consecuencia, dejaran de conocer procesos del sistema inquisitivo mixto.

Sin embargo, “la Fiscalía Sexta Anticorrupción, en atención a una excepción, continuó realizando funciones en ambos sistemas procesales, en virtud de Comisiones generadas por el Despacho Superior”, lo que produjo el “volumen actual de causas” que motiva ahora la aplicación de medidas para la “descarga de los procesos de su competencia”.

En función de lo anterior, como se dijo, los casos de la Fiscalía Sexta pasarán ahora a la Fiscalía Anticorrupción de Descarga, en la que laboran los fiscales Adecio Mojica, Lizzie Bonilla, Adela Heidy Morán y Javier Mitre.

El personal de la Fiscalía Sexta será distribuido entre las fiscalías anticorrupción del Ministerio Público, incluyendo la de Descarga.

La medida sale a luz pública una semana después de que Ulloa ordenó el traslado de la fiscal anticorrupción Zuleyka Moore a la coordinación de la Fiscalía Regional de Panamá Oeste, y del fiscal sexto anticorrupción, Aurelio Vásquez, a la Fiscalía Superior Coordinadora de Investigación, Asistencia a Juicio y Cumplimiento en la Sección de Familia.

 

Moderator comment: Below is an unedited automated translation of the above news article.

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New prosecutors to hearing on Blue Apple case in November

Juan Manuel Díaz C.
Jun 08, 2020 - 11:36 PM

<<blue apple.jpg>>
Attorney Eduardo Ulloa. Archive

In addition to the rotations of prosecutors ordered on May 25, the Attorney General of the Nation, Eduardo Ulloa, ordered on June 1 the closure of the Sixth Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, which was in charge of the investigation for alleged money laundering through society. Blue Apple.

Now, this file will be handled by the Anticorruption Discharge Prosecutor's Office, which must face the hearing set for next November 11.

Resolution No. 7 of June 1, 2020 alleges that the measure is based on the volume of cases handled by the Sixth Prosecutor's Office and the need to reorganize the discharge of cases under its jurisdiction.

The head of the office, Aurelio Vásquez, who investigated the Blue Apple case and acted in the trial of former President Ricardo Martinelli for the punctures, was rotated at the end of last month.

Ulloa orders closure of the prosecution of the Blue Apple case

The Attorney General of the Nation, Eduardo Ulloa, ordered the closure of the Sixth Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and ordered that the files filed in that office - including the investigation for alleged money laundering through the Blue Apple company - be forwarded to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Download.

In accordance with Resolution No. 7 of June 1, 2020, published in Official Gazette 29042-B, of June 8, the measure was adopted due to the volume of cases handled by the Sixth Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

The legal text cites Resolution No. 22 of March 31, 2016, which ordered that the Fifth and Sixth Anticorruption prosecutors' offices begin to handle processes under the accusatory criminal system and, consequently, cease to hear of processes of the mixed inquisitive system.

However, "the Sixth Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, in response to an exception, continued to perform functions in both procedural systems, by virtue of Commissions generated by the Superior Office", which produced the "current volume of cases" that now motivates the application of measures for the "discharge of the processes of its competition".

Based on the foregoing, as stated, the cases of the Sixth Prosecutor's Office will now go to the Discharge Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office, where prosecutors Adecio Mojica, Lizzie Bonilla, Adela Heidy Morán and Javier Miter work.

The staff of the Sixth Prosecutor's Office will be distributed among the anti-corruption prosecutors of the Public Ministry, including the Discharge.

The measure comes to light a week after Ulloa ordered the transfer of the anti-corruption prosecutor Zuleyka Moore to the coordination of the Panama West Regional Prosecutor's Office, and the sixth anti-corruption prosecutor, Aurelio Vásquez, to the Coordinating Superior Prosecutor's Office for Investigation, Assistance to Judgment and Compliance in the Family Section.

 

https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/nuevos-fiscales-a-audiencia-por-caso-blue-apple-en-noviembre/

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No-show lawyers nix high profile hearing

The sons and wife of former president Ricardo Martinelli are linked to the Blue Apple scandal

Posted 19/04/2021

The non-appearance of the lawyers of the majority of the 51 defendants forced Judge Baloisa Márquez to suspend the preliminary hearing of the Blue Apple case at the Supreme Court of Justice, so the hearing will be held on August 5.

The prosecutor Aurelio Vásquez, said that the non-appearance of the lawyers is something serious in an emblematic case where there is a huge amount of money that was diluted through bribes from businessmen who bid with the State and who had to pay some officials.

In the case, the prosecution has charged 51 people with the crimes of money laundering, corruption of public servants, illicit association to commit a crime, and falsification of documents.

There are several prominent figures among the defendants including the sons and wife of former president Ricardo Martinelli who have been in a Guatemala jail for nine months awaiting extradition to the United States.

Vásquez indicated that in one of the basket accounts there are $40 million, but the figure is also higher because there are more basket accounts. The State recovered $32 million.

There are seven negotiated agreements and others in the pipeline.

Previously, Ramón Ricardo Arias, former president of Transparency International, had warned the public not to get impatient or become very passionate about high-profile corruption cases, because with appeals, delays,  lost volumes lost, judges that leave on vacation among other excuses, it will be at least two to three years before the case is concluded.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/no-show-lawyers-nix-high-profile-hearing

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30 arrested in mega Costa Rica corruption swoop

Posted 16/06/2021

AFP  - A mega corruption investigation in Costa Rica, involving a presidential adviser and executives of construction firms with  Panama links, places the country on the list of Latin American nations involved in paying bribes in exchange for public works.

Those involved would have participated in a criminal system that caused, according to the authorities, budget losses of 78 billion colones (about $125 million), between 2018 and 2020.

Costa Rica saw how in 2016 Panama and other countries fell into the networks of the Lava Jato case, which shook Latin America for the payment of more than $700 million from the Brazilian Odebrecht to officials and politicians in exchange for works.

Five years later, this Central American nation has its own scandal.

'sexual favors'

According to the director of the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), Wálter Espinoza, public employees received constant favors and bribes, which responded to a planned articulation ”.

Among the gifts are "money, vehicles, land, travel, sexual favors and what they can imagine so that a company could benefit," says Espinoza, without going into details.

"This is the typical link of corruption that has manifested itself in other countries: groups of businessmen or private companies with very strong interests, and wide possibilities of action that approach officials to offer them gifts," he said.

Beyond the fiscal and judicial investigations, President Carlos Alvarado has asked the Legislative Assembly to open an investigative commission into the case.

Thirty suspected of offering the handouts, high-ranking officials of construction firms in Costa Rica were arrested, including H. Solís and MECO, which account for a high percentage of public works projects for accumulated sums amounting to $900 million

Carlos Cerdas, owner of MECO and who was arrested in the operation, was involved in Panama in the Blue Apple case, where in 2017 payments of up to 10% of the value of the works were reported to win contracts.

Among those investigated is an adviser to the president, Camilo Saldarriaga, who resigned on Monday after the scandal. Also Allan Ugalde, the manager of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, in charge of resolving appeals to public tenders.

"Where there is a corrupt person, there is a corruptor," said President Alvarado, condemning the denounced events.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/30-arrested-in-mega-costa-rica-corruption-swoop

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Judge has 30 days to rule on future of Blue Apple case

Posted 10/08/2021

Judge Baloisa Marquínez has 30 business days to decide the future of the Blue Apple case peppered with names of former high rollers, allegedly involved in a $40 million business scam.

After hearing both the allegations of the Prosecutor's Office and the 39 defense attorneys, Marquínez the third judge for the Settlement of Criminal Cases, Marquínez, accepted the end of 30 business days to decide whether to call the 51 involved to trial or decree the dismissal.

After 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 10, the arguments of the last defense attorney concluded. and, at 3:15 pm, the media outside the Balboa Theater, temporary headquarters of the Third Criminal Court for Liquidation, learned of Marquínez's decision.

The judge would accept the term established by law due to the voluminous nature of the file, which is made up of at least 320 volumes and due to the number of people involved in the investigation.

Prosecutor Adecio Mojica stated at the end of the preliminary hearing that all those involved will be called to trial by the judge based on the evidence they presented.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/judge-has-30-days-to-rule-on-future-of-blue-apple-case

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26 heading for trial in Blue Apple laundering case

Posted 16/11/2021

The Third Criminal Liquidator Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama has opened a criminal case against 26 citizens, for the alleged commission of four crimes in the case known as Blue Apple.

The trial date is set from June 20 to July 1, 2022. and an alternate date is scheduled from August 16 to 26, 2022.

According to the Judicial Branch, the group of 26 people committed crimes against the public faith (falsification of documents), collective security (illicit association), public administration (corruption of public servants) and the economic order (money laundering).

On August 10, the third judge for Settlement of Criminal Cases, Baloisa Marquínez, after concluding the preliminary hearing, accepted the term to give her decision.

51 alleged implicated persons attended the preliminary hearing. Marquínez accepted the term established by law due to the voluminous nature of the file, which is made up of at least 320 volumes. Also for the number of alleged implicated in the investigation.

The Public Ministry began the investigation on October 30, 2017, after a police intelligence report warned about the diversion of large sums of money through the Blue Apple company, with the purpose of laundering money from the payment of bribes delivered by the concession of infrastructure works.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/26-heading-for-trial-in-blue-apple-laundering-case

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Blue Apple  corruption hearing suspended

Edwin Juarez

Posted 20/06/2022

The substantive hearing against 27 people related to the "Blue Apple" case, which was scheduled to take place on Monday, June 20, by the Third Court Liquidator of Causes, was suspended, according to the Public Ministry.

In this case, the justice entity will request a sentence for corruption of public officials, illicit association, and money laundering.

Edwin Juárez, Superior Anticorruption Prosecutor, indicated that the group of lawyers who would participate in the trial were notified that it was suspended, to the extent that international assistance was needed for notifications of some people who are outside the country.

The new date, according to Juárez, had previously been scheduled for August 16.

The investigation began in September 2017 and is related to the company Blue Apple Services, created by several former officials for the purpose of allegedly laundering the money they received, paid as bribes and that came from State funds, by construction companies that carried out projects with the national government in the period 2010-2014, for which they also used the local and international banking system.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/blue-apple-corruption-hearing-suspended

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Court rejects Blue Apple appeal by Martinelli's son

Posted 02/08/2022

The First Superior Court of the First Judicial District did not admit an action for the protection of constitutional guarantees filed by the defense of Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares against Judge Baloísa Marquínez.

Marquínez is in charge of the Third Liquidator Court, which in the coming months must evacuate the hearings of the Odebrecht and Blue Apple cases, among other high-profile cases. Martinelli Linares appears as a defendant in both cases.

The regular hearing in the Blue Apple case was originally scheduled for June 2, but was postponed. According to the alternate date, it must be held from August 16 to 26.

The events related to the case took place between 2010 and 2014 when the “Blue Apple” corporation was allegedly used to “launder” bribes that officials received from state contractors.

Martinelli Linares son of former president Ricardo Martinelli is one of the defendants in the investigation for crimes of corruption of public servants, illicit association, and money laundering.

Currently, Ricardo Alberto and his brother, Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, are serving a sentence in the United States after having pleaded guilty to conspiring to receive bribes from the  Odebrecht construction company and that they were intended for their father, Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/court-rejects-blue-apple-appeal-by-martinelli039s-son-1

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$78 million laundering trial suspended

Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares.

Posted 07/07/2023

The Blue Apple trial for alleged corruption and laundering of some 78 million public dollars was scheduled to start on Monday, July 10, but the Second Criminal Liquidating Court announced that it was suspended until August 22 following excuses from five defense lawyers.

The appeals filed by the legal defense of some of the 26 defendants in the Blue Apple case have kept the trial on hold since June of last year.  

The brothers Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, sons of former president Ricardo Martinelli are among the defendants.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/78-million-laundering-trial-suspended

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Blue Apple case defendants rush to reach agreements with court

The Martinelli Linares brothers dodged the trial by taking temporary refuge in Parlacen.

Posted 17/08/2023

With five days to go before the trial of the Blue Apple case begins, four representatives of construction companies have effective collaboration agreements validated before the judge. Of the remaining 26 people called to appear, seven of them seek, in the last days before the trial, approaches with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office to negotiate effective collaboration or penalty agreements.

One of these groups has already reached an agreement, it is Joaquín Rodríguez Salcedo. The information was confirmed to TVN by their lawyer Gladys Quintero and she added that they no longer have to attend the trial on August 22, since the agreement was validated by the Second Criminal Court. The lawyer did not give details of when it was validated and what type of agreement was agreed upon by her client and the Prosecutor's Office.

The details of the other six accused are not known, but according to the norm for these agreements, they must be approved by the judge of the case before the trial begins.

For collaboration and penalty agreements, the defendant must acknowledge guilt and provide sufficient valuable information to the investigation.

Dodging the bullet
The brothers Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, the main defendants in the case, resorted, on August 17, to being sworn in online as substitute deputies of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen). Therefore, Judge Baloisa Marquínez loses jurisdiction and the process of the brothers will have to be heard by the magistrates of the Supreme Court

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/blue-apple-case-defendants-rush-to-reach-agreements-with-court

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Blue Apple trial starts without star defendants

Judge Baloísa Marquínez.

Posted 22/08/2023

The second liquidator judge of criminal cases Baloísa Marquínez recognized that the plenary session of the Supreme Court () has the competence to prosecute the brothers Luis Enrique and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli in the Blue Apple case after both were sworn in as deputies substitutes of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen).

The decision came one day before the start of the trial of 21 people for alleged money laundering through a basket account in the name of the Blue Apple company. The trial will be held for the rest of the defendants.

The children of former President Ricardo Martinelli were sworn in (via Zoom) five days before the Blue Apple trial began.

"It corresponds to the plenary session of the Supreme Court, the investigation and prosecution of criminal and police acts followed against a main or substitute deputy," Marquínez mentioned in Auto Vario No. 149, in which the judge also declared herself respectful of due process and the right to defense.

The plenary of the Supreme Court will now be responsible for appointing a magistrate to act as prosecutor and, if necessary, another to act as guarantee judge.

The Blue Apple trial began Tuesday, August 22, at 9:00 am, and will run until September 11. It will be broadcast on the YouTube channel of the Judicial Branch and retransmitted by prensa.com.

The judge admitted 25 testimonial and expert evidence presented by the 12 private technical defenders and 7 public defenders, in addition to the Superior Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office

Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique have another trial pending for alleged money laundering: that of the bribes paid by Odebrecht in Panama. The judge has not yet raised the jurisdiction of that case to the Court. The Odebrecht trial begins on September 27 and former President Martinelli is also charged.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/blue-apple-trial-starts-without-star-defendants

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Blue Apple plea deals include over five years jail time

Prosecutor Aurelio Vásquez,

Posted 23/08/2023

The second day of the Blue Apple case began with the validation of two sentence agreements each with a jail term of more than five years.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Aurelio Vásquez, upon his arrival at the court on  Wednesday, August 23.

He told waiting journalists that approximately 15 defendants had reached a sentence agreement and no

person reaches a penalty and collaboration agreement without having full or partial responsibility in the case.

"In fact, you could see that there was a collaboration agreement that the Prosecutor's Office declined, what means, in a few words there is a tacit acceptance, but we are not going to enter into that situation, because we prefer to enter the debate in court.

The hearing is chaired by the second liquidator judge of Criminal Cases, Baloisa Marquínez.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/blue-apple-plea-deals-include-over-five-years-jail-time

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Blue Apple expert witness unshaken by defense lawyers

Posted 27/08/2023

The expert witness Eliseo Ábrego Peña, who works in the Judicial Investigation Directorate (DIJ) of the National Police in the Organized Crime department, was the only testimony presented on the fourth day of the  Blue Apple trial. Two defense lawyers questioned him to try to prove that the information was incomplete and that the defendants were innocent.

In the report presented by Ábrego, it is verified that part of the money deposited and credited in the Blue Apple bank accounts was transferred to natural and legal persons, especially to a company in which former Minister José Federico Suárez has a stake as a shareholder and member of the board of directors

 During the investigation, Ábrego established that among the authorized signatures and real beneficiaries of this account at the time of its opening in 2008 was that of Suárez. Ábrego assured that Federico Barrios, creator of the Blue Apple company and who reached a penalty agreement, explained to the prosecution that Melina Cano Achurra participated as a mediator or administrator of some investments that were made through a company that was interested in the acquisition of some equipment during the government administration of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014).

The funds, as detailed in the hearing, were for the purchase of equipment that would be installed in the hydroelectric project known as "El Síndigo", which was being developed in Chiruqui. Five defense attorneys have signed up to question Ábrego when the hearing resumes on Monday.

KICKBACKS
The court order detailed how former minister Suárez, according to the investigation, received various payments of $300,000, $180,000 and deposits of more than $2 million through a partnership made by companies that had worked with the government.The investigation began on October 30, 2017, through a police intelligence report, which refers to the Blue Apple Services limited company, created by several people (members of the government administration from 2009-2014) for the purpose of of “disguising or laundering money”, allegedly obtained from kickbacks or bribes received for the concession of various construction projects.

The Public Ministry managed to recover $32 million, of the $82 million that it determined had entered the account of the Blue Apple company.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/blue-apple-expert-witness-unshaken-by-defense-lawyers

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Prosecutor asks "exemplary" sentences for 14  in Blue Apple trial

Federico Suarez / Jimmy Ford

Posted 01/09/2023

After eight hours of allegations, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor requested for conviction and the application of"exemplary" sentences for 14 people for crimes ranging from money laundering, corruption of officials, and the illegal association to commit crimes, in the Blue Apple trial.

Prosecutor Edwin Juárez asked criminal judge Baloisa Marquínez for a verdict condemning Federico Pepe Suárez and Jaime Ford, who served as heads of the Ministry of Public Works between 2009 and 2014, for having requested "political aid" (bribes) from state contractor companies. in exchange for facilities for the execution and collection of infrastructure projects.

In the case of Suárez, the Prosecutor assured that he maintained commercial relations with Felipe Lechter, who agreed to a collaboration agreement and accepted having been a recipient of money from Blue Apple, which ended up benefiting Suárez.

Lechter acknowledged that he received two checks for $10 million from Blue Apple.

The prosecutor said the funds came from the corporate structure created by Federico Barrios , who allied with the former head of MOP contract administration, Jorge Churro Ruiz, to develop a corporate structure with the purpose of channeling funds from the payments of the companies that were benefited with State contracts. He explained that Suárez used contracts from his business group to channel money from crimes against the public administration and that they were moved through various companies, including Blue Apple.

He said that the former minister channeled money from Blue Apple to purchase equipment for the El Síndigo hydroelectric project, which was being developed in the province of Chiriquí. He alleged that this was supported by Teodoro Garrido (RIP) and Federico Barrios.

He said that to carry out this operation he also had the collaboration of Churro Ruiz and his assistant at the MOP, Melina Cano.

Ruiz became a collaborator of the prosecution and Cano, like Suárez, is accused.

He stressed that Cano, for whom the prosecutor also requested a conviction, participated directly in the processing of the documents for the El Síndigo project.

The statements of businessmen Eduardo Di Bello, Julián París, and Jorge Espino, whose companies obtained contracts with the State, were determining factors in the imputation of Jaime Ford.

Real estate purchases were made in the district of San Francisco, Casco Viejo, and in the province of Panama Oeste. The intermediary of these transactions was Jorge Espino, who also has a penalty agreement with the prosecution.

Judge Marquínez was asked for an acquittal verdict in favor of Silvia Rojas and Marcelino Martínez. Both participated in the creation of limited companies used to move money to Blue Apple. According to the prosecution, Rojas and Martínez did not know why these companies were created and did not receive any benefits or benefits from those acts.

The day before, Barrios had declared that Silvia Rojas was the nanny of his children and it was he who asked for the ID, to use her name and other personal information to create the companies, in exchange for "a couple of dollars." He declared that Rojas was very humble and had little education, so it was very difficult for her to understand the whole plot.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/prosecutor-asks-quotexemplaryquot-sentences-for-14-in-blue-apple-trial-1

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Blue Apple focus now on Martinelli's sons

Judge Baloisa Marquínez

Posted 06/09/2023

After 63 hours of hearings in the Blue Apple case; Judge Baloisa Marquínez must resolve three appeals and rule while the case now takes another direction: the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice must initiate the process to prosecute Ricardo and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, sons of former president Ricardo Martinelli), who were strategically sworn in as substitute deputies of the Central American Parliament, with the aim of diluting the process.

The plenary of the Supreme Court must assign a substantiating magistrate, a person who must draft a project on whether or not to admit the rupture.

If the procedural rupture dictated by Marquínez is admitted, the full Court must appoint a prosecutor and the rest of the magistrates would act as judges.

The same file and the same evidence that was already admitted by Marquinez for the trial that concluded last Monday will be used in the trial.

The connection of the Martinelli brothers in the Blue Apple case arises from the confession made to the Public Ministry by Jorge Churro Ruiz, who served as head of contracts for the Ministry of Public Works (MOP).

Ruiztold the prosecution that Ricardo Martinelli Linares contacted him at the end of 2010, to give him an instruction: he had to collect a percentage of the total amount of the contracts awarded to Bagatrac, SA, Constructora Rodsa, Constructora Meco, Conalvías, SA, GS Contractors–Grupo Corporativo GS and Concepto y Espacios.

Joaquín Rodríguez Salcedo, another of those accused in the investigation, also gave them away. He told the prosecution that payments were made to Corporación de Energía del Istmo, a hydroelectric company in which the sons of former President Martinelli had a stake and that those payments corresponded to commissions for contracts awarded by the MOP.

ANOTHER TRIAL
The Court also has a pending trial of another Parlacen substitute deputy: Kristelle Getzler Herrera de De Lima, wife of Frank De Lima, former Minister of Economy and Finance.

On March 9,  the plenary session of the Court decided to call Getzler to trial for alleged money laundering.

In this case, Judge María Eugenia López acts as prosecutor, but no date has yet been set for the trial.

Getzler is accused of having obtained funds from Blue Apple that were later deposited in the company Inversiones y Servicios LJ with which they would have acquired a car from Bavarian Motors, SA.

The trial of Génesis Geraldine De Gracia, who is a fugitive from justice, is also pending.

She is named in the case because she served as a legal representative of the companies Corporación Libuma and Nightmare Overseas moved funds allegedly linked to Blue Apple.

De Gracia, according to the investigation, was the secretary of Federico Barrios (creator of Blue Apple). Barrios said that she was the person who provided the nominal dignitaries for the incorporation of corporations that were used in the corporate structures created around Blue Apple.

So far, the only person convicted in this case is Adolfo Chichi De Obarrio, who was Ricardo Martinelli's private secretary. De Obarrio was sentenced to 120 months in prison for money laundering.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/blue-apple-focus-now-on-martinelli039s-sons-2

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Eight draw long jail terms, big fines in Blue Apple case

Baloisa Marquinez - Judge

Posted 14/11/2023

On Monday, November 13 Judge Baloisa Marquínez handed down sentences ranging from 12   to 14  years of jail time to eight people, including the former Ministers of Public Works Federico Suárez and Jaime Ford,  and the former president of the board of directors of the Caja of Savings (CA), Riccardo Francolini, in the Blue Apple case.

Suárez was sentenced to 14 years and the payment of a fine of $27.4 million, for money laundering. For the same crime, Octavio Samaniego was sentenced to 152 months in prison.

Ford,  was sentenced to 80 months in prison and a fine of $11.4 million for money laundering.

Francolini, a figure very close to former president Ricardo Martinelli), was sentenced to 60 months in prison and a fine of $470,000 for money laundering, the same as George Moreno Pérez Venero and Alcides Bernal Zambrano, who faced 80 and 60 months in prison, respectively.

For the crimes of corruption of public servants, Judge Marquínez found Juan Daniel Girón and César Jaramillo guilty. Against the first, he was sentenced to 64 months in prison, and against the second, 72.

Marquínez also ordered the confiscation in favor of the State of several assets, namely: a villa in the PH Bristol Villas Buenaventura, valued at $235,000;  an apartment on the tenth floor of PH Wind Rose, in Coco de Mar; a land in Mariato, Veraguas, valued at $63,166, and five bank accounts and fixed deposits.

Until now, the Public Ministry had managed to recover $40 million of a total of about $80 million that would have been embezzled.

The investigation began on October 30, 2017, following a complaint about the existence of a basket account in the name of the company Blue Apple Services, which used to receive bribes provided by contractors of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP), during the Martinelli government.

Two of Martinelli's sons were accused in the case, however, they were not prosecuted by Judge Marquínez: on August 21 (one day before the trial began) they managed to have their case transferred to the Supreme Court e after being sworn in as substitute deputies of the Latin American Parliament (Parlacen). In this way, Luis Enrique and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares must now be prosecuted by the full Court, as well as the Parlacen deputy, Kristelle Getzler Herrera, wife of the former Minister of Economy and Finance, Frank De Lima, and also investigated for Blue Apple bribes.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/eight-draw-long-jail-terms-big-fines-in-blue-apple-case#google_vignette

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KRYSTELL

Kristelle Getzler of De Lima

Posted 16/11/2023

A sentence of five years in prison was requested by Judge María Eugenia López Arias, in her capacity as prosecutor in the trial of the substitute representative of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), Kristelle Getzler de De Lima, for the alleged crime of money laundering capitals through a basket account in the name of Blue Apple Services.

The prosecutor assured that the evidence incorporated into the investigation, among which is the investigation conducted by the former director of the National Assistance Program (PAN). ), Giacomo Tamburelli, where he stated that the former Minister of Economy and Finance, Frank De Lima, received $500,000 from the Blue Apple company, which were channeled through the company Inversiones y Servicios LB, SA. Part of those funds ($30,000) were used for the purchase of a BMW car, which was placed in the name of Getzler, wife of former Minister De Lima.

Getzler, who was an official in the Ministry of the Presidency in the government of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), addressed the full Court, to try to justify the purchase of the vehicle. She said that she did not know of the existence of Blue Apple until the scandal was reported in the media.

The tax magistrate recalled that Tamburelli declared that some companies benefited from public funds channeled through the Blue Apple basket account. This account was fueled with bribes provided by State contractors, according to what the businessmen themselves confessed to the Public Ministry.

In her argument, Dinoska Montalvo (Getzler 's lawyer) assured that her client had no way of knowing that the money given for the purchase of the BMW could have had an illicit origin. She also provided De Lima, Federico Barrios, and Joaquín Rodríguez as witnesses. Tamburelli was also requested as a witness but did not appear.

In the Blue Apple case, there are already eight people convicted, including the former Ministers of Public Works, Federico Suárez and Jaime Ford Castro, and the merchant Riccardo Francolini, former president of the board of directors of the Caja de Ahorros and member of the former president Martinelli’s circle zero,

Two sons of Martinelli are awaiting trial but, last August they were sworn in as substitute deputies of Parlacen, the case, as far as they are concerned, went to the Court.

The Court has not yet informed when the trial of Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares will be.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/prosecutor-asks-5-years-jail-for-substitute-deputy-1