Former president Ricardo Marinellic allegedly received bribes from Brazilian construction company
Former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli has been barred from entering the United States, along with the rest of his family, because of “bribes” he allegedly received from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced Wednesday.
The former president “accepted bribes in exchange for the egregious awarding of government contracts during his presidency,” Mr. Blinken said in a press release, which is why the U.S. government decided to strip Mr. Martinelli and the his family the right to enter the US territory, according to a press release posted on the website of the US Embassy in Panama.
The decision was announced on the day the former president’s two sons were deported from the US to Panama after serving two-and-a-half-year sentences for corruption. The American justice had also sentenced them to pay a fine of 250,000 dollars each for the case.
Luis Enrique and Ricardo Martinelli Jr. were convicted in 2022 of embezzling a total of $28 million from Odebrecht, $19 million of which they transferred to US bank accounts.
In Panama, like the former president, they face charges of money laundering, stemming from bribes from the Brazilian construction giant when their father was in power (2009-2014), as well as another case known as the “Blue apple’, which also concerns an illegal system of procurement in exchange for public works.
The two sons boarded a flight that took off from Newark, accompanied by officers from the Immigration Service (ICE), their lawyer Carlos Carrillo told AFP. According to him, his principals were going to be greeted by judges upon exiting the aircraft in order to inform them of the charges against them. But after paying $14 million, they will await trial on parole, he added.
The two brothers will not have the right to leave the country, while they will have to appear in person when they receive court summons for their pending cases, always according to the lawyer Carrillo.
The Odebrecht scandal swept the political scene in several Latin American countries in recent years.
In Panama, the case involved around 100 people, including former president Martinelli and his successor Juan Carlos Varela, who left office in 2019.
The brothers’ arrival has caused an uproar in Panama as the country prepares for elections in 2024, in which Mr. Martinelli, despite pending prosecutions against him, intends to run for a second term. The 70-year-old businessman, owner of, among other things, a supermarket chain, maintains some popularity.
RES-EMP
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