Two former presidents implicated in a trial in Panama
Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela, former presidents of Panama, are accused of having received bribes paid by the Odebrecht group.
Former Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela on February 25, 2019.
AFP
Two former presidents of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela, were indicted on Friday by the prosecution during preliminary hearings in a mega-anti-corruption trial that opened this week in the country’s capital.
The two men, who succeeded each other at the head of Panama between 2009 and 2014, were not present at the hearing. They are accused of receiving bribes paid by the Brazilian construction group Odebrecht. The multinational has admitted to American justice having distributed millions of dollars to be awarded public works contracts in Panama.
Front companies
In addition to Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela, around fifty people are implicated in this trial, including several former ministers. In 2016, the Odebrecht group admitted in a court in Brooklyn (United States) to having distributed more than 788 million dollars in bribes throughout Latin America, including 59 million dollars for Panama alone.
The Brazilian group was notably awarded the construction of two metro lines in Panama City, the expansion of the capital’s international airport, as well as several sections of the city’s seafront boulevard.
The first of the two ex-heads of state to be impeached on Friday was Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019). The prosecution accuses him of having received money from Odebrecht through shell companies and in bank accounts abroad between 2008 and 2014, when he was president of the right-wing party “Panamiste” and vice -president of the country.
“Illegal structure”
According to these accusations, the party of Juan Carlos Varela received from Odebrecht 10 million dollars, and the bank accounts where the money passed were intended in particular to pass money to the leader of the party. According to the prosecution, Juan Carlos Varela received money from Odebrecht also during his presidential term, which the accused disputes.
Former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), a successful businessman who notably owns a chain of supermarkets, is also accused of having illegally received money from Odebrecht. Ricardo Martinelli was “fully aware of the illicit origin of the funds” and had even set up “an entire illegal structure” to collect the bribes, according to the indictment read at the hearing on Friday.
Two sons of Ricardo Martinelli, detained in the United States following being extradited from Guatemala where they had been arrested, have for their part declared themselves guilty of having received 28 million dollars from the Brazilian construction group.
AFP
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