Panamanian Martinelli promises to cut ‘his eggs’ if it is proven that he took bribes from Odebrecht

First modification: 09/21/2022 – 04:50Last modification: 09/21/2022 – 04:22

“I can say that they cut my balls if there is a real that involves me there, it is pure bochinche (rumor),” Martinelli said before several hundred followers who marched in his support to the Supreme Court of Justice, in Panama City .

“This is a rigged trial,” the former president (2009-2014) added to cheers, applause and the hubbub of his acolytes.

Martinelli’s statements come after last Friday the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office requested, during a preliminary hearing, to prosecute him for alleged money laundering for Odebrecht.

According to the tax hearing, Martinelli would have received, while governing, alleged bribes from the construction company through shell companies and from one of its companies.

The investigation “makes it clear that Martinelli had full knowledge of the illicit origin of the money he was receiving” from Odebrecht, according to the prosecution.

In addition, “there was an entire illegal structure made up of Martinelli, who had full knowledge of the illegal activities carried out by the Odebrecht company to comply with the bribes requested within his government,” adds the accusation.

In 2016, Odebrecht pleaded guilty in a US court to having distributed more than $788 million in bribes to government officials, officials and political parties, mostly in Latin America.

In Panama, the company acknowledged having paid 59 million dollars in bribes in exchange for the award of contracts for the construction of public works.

The sons of the former president, Ricardo and Luis Enrique Martinelli, are imprisoned in the United States after pleading guilty to receiving 28 million dollars in bribes from the Brazilian multinational while their father was president of the country.

During the trial, held in New York, the defense accused Ricardo Martinelli Sr. of having induced them to commit the crimes, for which they were sentenced to three years in prison.

In addition, several confessions from former directors of the Brazilian company, one of the main contractors of public infrastructure works in the country, also pointed to the former president.

However, Martinelli insists that it is all about “political persecution” to prevent him from running in the 2024 elections.

For the Odebrecht case, the prosecution has also requested a trial for former President Juan Carlos Varela and several former ministers.