Panama: the 10 and a half year prison sentence of former President Martinelli for money laundering is confirmed

First modification: 03/02/2024 – 02:30

3 min

The former president of Panama Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) He will have to serve his prison sentence of 10 years and six months for money laundering and, according to constitutional experts, he will not be able to run in the presidential elections in May. The decision was made by the Supreme Court of Justice this February 2.

Martinelli lost his last legal appeal after in July 2023 he was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison, in addition to a fine of more than $19.2 million, after being accused of corruption in the scandal known as “New Business.”

So, Martinelli becomes the first former president in the democratic history of Panama to be sentenced to prison for this type of crime. A decision that comes just one day before the campaign for the Panamanian elections officially begins.

Last June, Martinelli was declared a candidate for the Presidency after having won the primaries of the Realizing Goals (RM) party, founded by the Panamanian politician in 2021.

Due to all the processes against him, the former president lost the leadership of the Democratic Center (CD), with which he campaigned for almost his entire political career.

According to some early polls, the former president had a chance of winning in the elections that will be held in three months, but with the decision of the Supreme Court the entire political landscape in Panama changes.

“From a constitutional point of view” Martinelli “could not run once the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice is final, because there is a constitutional disqualification,” constitutional expert Ernesto Cedeño told the EFE agency.

The sentence will become final after 5 days from this Friday and disqualifies Martinelli because the sentence is more than 5 years in prison and given the nature of the crime, according to the experts.

The 71-year-old politician was president of Panama between 2009 and 2014 and had already served a one-year prison sentence in the United States for the same corruption case.

Subsequently, He was charged with several charges in the Odebrecht corruption scandalwhich affected several Latin American governments.

The 'New Business' case

The adverse ruling for Martinelli is related to the purchase he made in 2010, while he was president, of the majority of the shares of Editora Panamá América with money from the collection of commissions on infrastructure works.

For this purchase, a part of the 43.9 million dollars that different companies deposited, through companies from the payment of bribes, up to 10% of the amount of the original public works contracts was used, according to Justice.

In this case, known as “New Business” due to the name of one of the companies used in the plot, the former president was tried from May 23 to June 2, 2023 and the ruling was handed down in July.

Various allegations of corruption affect public figures in Panama

Not only Martinelli's name has been called into question. His two sons served jail time for the Odebrecht case in the United States, after pleading guilty to having laundered $28 million and receiving bribes from the Brazilian company.

Former president Juan Carlos Varela, who led the country after Martinelli, between 2014 and 2019, was also accused of corruption by the United States Government for its links to “large-scale and important cases of corruption.”

Martinelli is also being investigated in Spain, after being accused – again – of corruption. This time for bribes that the Spanish construction company FCC confessed to having paid to its Government, in addition to another case of espionage against a Spanish woman.

And although there are multiple accusations of corruption against him, the politician's supporters defend that he has been one of the presidents who has brought the greatest progress to Panama.

With EFE and AFP