CITY OF PANAMA.– The Supreme Court of Justice of Panama confirmed the sentence of ten years and eight months of former president Ricardo Martinelli, convicted of money laundering in the purchase of a media group in the so-called case New Business.
The second chamber of the court rejected an appeal presented by Martinelli, thus leaving the sentence final and preventing the former president from participating in the May elections for the populist party Realizing Goals together with his ‘number two‘, José Raúl Mulino, former Minister of Public Security.
Martinelli, who was president between 2009 and 2014, will also have to pay a fine of 19.2 million dollars. In addition, the court also rejected a request to annul the case, for which he was convicted in July of laundering the funds he used to acquire shares of Editora Panamá América, owner of newspapers such as ‘Criticism’ or ‘Day by Day‘.
The former president, who had aspirations of returning to the Presidency of Panama, was disqualified under article 180 of the Panamanian Constitution, which provides that no one may be elected president or vice president if he has been sentenced to a sentence equal to or greater than five years. through an enforceable sentence issued by a court of justice.”
Likewise, the court rejected the appeals of four others involved in the case: Daniel Arrocha Ochy, Valentín Martínez, Iván Arturo Arrocha Chevalier and Janet Ibeth Vásquez, according to the newspaper ‘La Prensa’.
Martinelli has another pending trial set for July 2024 for the alleged bribes he would have received from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, a case in which former president Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019) and former Minister of Public Works Carlos Dubois are also involved.
Source: With information from Europa Press
