Panama requests from Guatemala extradition of Martinelli brothers in Blue Apple case

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A Panamanian court requested the extradition of brothers Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, sons of the former president of Panama Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), imprisoned in the Guatemalan capital for an extradition proceeding to the United States, said Friday a source of the case.

The Third Court of Criminal Cases of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama authorized a request to extradite from Guatemala the Martinelli brothers to the Panamanian nation for allegedly being involved in the “Blue Apple” case, charged with economic crimes.

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Efe learned that the Fourth Pluripersonal Court of First Criminal Instance of Guatemala, presided by Judge Mayra de León, held a hearing from the Mariscal Zavala prison, where the Martinelli Linares brothers are incarcerated, to hear the new extradition request.

A prosecutor of the Guatemalan Public Ministry assured Efe, however, that the first request processed in any case has greater weight and, in addition, also has a greater incidence in the case the accusation for the biggest crime, which, in this case, is the one indicated by the North American country.

Both sons of the former Panamanian governor are required by the courts of their country since May 2019, when it was known that they had left Panama, as they are associated with the plots of the payment of bribes from the Brazilian firm Odebrecht and the “Blue Apple” scheme, which involves a total of 59 people, among which is also their mother, Marta Linares de Martinelli.

The “Blue Apple” scheme, according to the Panamanian Prosecutor’s Office, is related to embezzlement of more than 78 million dollars and involves crimes such as money laundering, corruption of public servants, illicit association to commit crimes, and falsification of documents.

According to Panama’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, between 2009 and 2014, a corruption network operated in the ministries of Public Works and Housing, where former high-ranking officials allegedly demanded millions of illegal commissions from several State contractors in exchange for speeding up the administrative procedures of the works they were developing or in exchange for new contracts.

The Prosecutor’s Office, which began investigations in September 2017, seized more than US$10 million in money and assets and signed five collaboration agreements through which it recovered another US$25 million.

MORE THAN A YEAR IN PRISON

Luis Enrique, 38, and his older brother, Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares, 40, were arrested in Guatemala on July 6, 2020, at the request of the US due to the alleged crime of money laundering during their father’s tenure, in a corruption case linked to Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

The Martinelli Linares brothers were about to leave Guatemala on a private flight when they were captured at the request of the US after about a year of being unaccounted for.

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 crimes of concealment of information to that effect, between 2009 and 2015, for amounts of less than one million dollars.

Last July 1, the brothers were located in another sector of the prison where they are being held, which is located within a military brigade north of the Guatemalan capital called Mariscal Zavala, because US intelligence and the Guatemalan armed forces discovered an alleged escape plan by both of them, which did not materialize.

After a month of being held in isolation in a cell next to the “VIP” area, as the place where high-profile prisoners such as former President Otto Perez Molina (2012-2015) are held, the Martinelli Linares was moved to another location within the same prison, with extra surveillance by “elite” guards, according to Guatemala’s Penitentiary System.