The former president of Panama and presidential candidate for 2024, Ricardo Martinellidenounced that there is judicial manipulation in the New Business case, which sentenced him to 128 months in prison for alleged money laundering.
Martinelli, issued these statements during a vigil in front of the Supreme Court of Justicewhich he commented on his social network account X, formerly Twitter, in anticipation of the admission of the appeal he filed against the sentence.
Martinelli arrived at the site of the vigil in the company of his wife, Marta Linares de Martinelli, and his running mate. presidentialJosé Raúl Mulino, where he indicated that the protest is carried out for the defense of his rights and that of Panamanians.
“They have turned us all into a ‘ñinga’. They want one person to define the future of 4 million Panamanians,” said Martinelli. “Hold a public trial accepting the cassation and you will see all the fabrications, politicking, bribes, rigging, stories, rapes, abuses and inventions. That is why they do NOT dare and want to disqualify me.”
Martinelli assured that the sentence against him was “a montage political“orchestrated by the government of President Laurentino Cortizo. “They know that if the public trial is opened, everything will fall,” he said.
“It cannot be that a judge is the one who decides for 3 million Panamanians, the only thing the other candidates think about is seeing how they disqualify me because not one of them is useful and they set their expectations on how they disqualify me for a politically rigged case,” said the presidential candidate
The appeal was sent to the Criminal Court
He appeal of Martinelli was sent to the Criminal Court of the Supreme Court on December 12. The Chamber has a period of 30 days to resolve the appeal.
If the Chamber admits the appeal, the case will be reopened and a new trial will be held. If the Chamber rejects the appeal, the sentence against Martinelli will remain final.
Judge Ariadne García will be the rapporteur of the criminal appeal presented by lawyer Carlos Carrillo, in favor of Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal, against the sentence (ratified by a court and a tribunal) to 128 months in prison and a fine of $19.2 million for the crime of money laundering.
On July 17, Judge Baloisa Marquínez, head of the Second Liquidation Court for Criminal Cases, found Martinelli (and four other people) guilty of the crime of money laundering in the so-called case New Businessby determining that public funds were used to acquire the shares of Editora Panamá América, SA (Epasa), in December 2010, when Martinelli was governor.
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Source: Account of the social network X, formerly Twitter of Former President Ricardo Martinelli, La Prensa, Panama America
