Two former Panama presidents to face graft trial

A Panama court has ordered former presidents Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela to stand trial on charges of laundering money from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, a court document showed Tuesday.

Judge Baloisa Marquines opened a criminal case against the two former leaders for crimes “against the economic order in the form of money laundering,” read the trial summons.

The two men, who collectively led Panama between 2009 and 2019, will be tried alongside 34 others, including five former ministers.

Two of Martinelli’s sons — who are both imprisoned in the United States after pleading guilty to receiving $28 million from Odebrecht — will also be tried.

The trial will run from August 1-18, 2023.

“It is, without a doubt, a historical event,” lawyer Carlos Barsallo, of the Transparency International NGO, said of having two presidents on trial for money laundering.

Prosecutors accuse Martinelli and Varela of using front companies and foreign bank accounts to receive funds from Odebrecht between 2008 and 2014.

In 2016, Odebrecht pled guilty in a Brooklyn court to paying more than $788 million in bribes to government officials and political parties, mainly in Latin America, to win infrastructure contracts.

The Brazilian company admitted paying bribes worth $59 million in Panama in exchange for contracts to build public works.

Odebrecht built Panama’s two metro lines, expanded Tocumen International Airport, and constructed Panama City’s ring road around its historic old quarter, among other multimillion-dollar projects.

According to the Public Prosecutor’s office, the company overbilled the Panamanian government for some projects.

Varela and his right-wing Panamenista party stand accused of receiving $10 million from Odebrecht.

Varela, who led Panama from 2014 to 2019, denies the charges.

– ‘A political circus’ –
The billionaire supermarket tycoon Martinelli, 70, who was president from 2009-2014, also stands accused of illegally receiving money from Odebrecht.

He was “fully aware of the illicit origin of the funds” and had even set up “an entire illegal structure” to collect the bribes, prosecutors said in a September hearing.

Martinelli has denied receiving any “ill-gotten gains,” and dismissed the accusations as “a political circus” to prevent him from running for president again in 2024.

However, the lawyer Barsallo said the trial may take several years, freeing Martinelli to run for office.

Martinelli, with Varela as his deputy, swept to victory in 2009 elections with a hard stance against corruption. The pair became rivals in 2011 after Martinelli sacked Varela as his foreign minister.

Martinelli has been investigated for multiple corruption scandals since leaving office. In 2021, he was acquitted for a second time on charges of espionage and embezzlement of public funds.

He is also under investigation for allegedly purchasing a publishing company with public money during his time in office.