Second son of former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli extradited to U.S. from Guatemala

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The son of former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, was extradited to the United States this Monday, November 15, to be tried for money laundering in a case linked to the Brazilian firm Odebrecht.

Pablo Castillo, spokesman for the Guatemala Ministry of the Interior, said that since early morning the General Directorate of the Penitentiary System transferred Martinelli from the Mariscal Zavala prison to the Guatemalan Air Force, where after the formalities, he was handed over to the United States authorities, who moved him by air to that country.

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On November 8, the Third Criminal Sentencing Court of Guatemala had ordered the extradition of his brother Ricardo Martinelli Linares after he accepted the transfer to that country to face the trial for money laundering.

Luis Martinelli Linares was arrested in July 2020 in Guatemala together with his brother, Ricardo Martinelli Linares, whose extradition has also been approved by the Guatemalan justice system.

The two sons of the former Panamanian president were arrested in Guatemala on July 6, 2020. They were trying to travel to Panama in a private plane after almost a year of being unaccounted for.

The apprehension was carried out at the request of the United States. Since then, the brothers have been in prison at the Mariscal Zavala military barracks in the Guatemalan capital awaiting the completion of their extradition proceedings to the United States.

The extradition of Luis Martinelli Linares was ordered last May 25 by the Fifth Criminal Sentencing Court.

THE ACCUSATION

The extradition request by the U.S. of the Martinelli Linares brothers stems from the alleged crime of money laundering during their father’s term in office in a corruption case linked to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

According to the indictment of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Martinelli Linares is responsible for the crime of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two offenses of concealment of information to that effect, between 2009 and 2015, for amounts of less than one million dollars.