Former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) has been sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison for money laundering in the acquisition of a media group, the daily newspaper Estrella de Panamá reported on Tuesday.
Martinelli, who was running for a new presidential nomination in 2024, has been linked to the so-called New Business case and will still have to pay a €17 million fine.
According to Estrella de Panamá, the former head of state was convicted of laundering the funds he used to become a shareholder in Editora Panamá América, owner of several newspapers, including Critica or Dia a Dia.
Judge Baluisa Marquínez agreed with the prosecution’s argument, pointing out that Martinelli and a dozen other defendants used a network of companies and “shams” to imitate businesses in order to guarantee the embezzlement of public funds. As a result of the trial, the former president and four other people were convicted.
Martinelli, who became the Realizando Metas (right-wing populist) party’s first presidential candidate for May 2024 and the front-runner in some polls, faces another lawsuit over alleged bribes he received from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, implicated in several cases. corruption in Latin America.
Convicts can still apply to the Second Court of Justice and eventually to the Court of Cassation.