Panama asks the United States for the money seized from the Martinellis

December 16, 2021

Photo: JOHAN ORDONEZ / AFP / Getty Images

For: The Opinion Updated 16 Dec 2021, 10: 09 am EST

The Panamanian authorities have asked the United States to return the money already confiscated or to soon confiscate the children of the former president of the Central American country Ricardo Martinelli , already extradited to the United States in a criminal proceeding that is being followed in New York, accused of money laundering of bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht .

Panama made the request as “victim” through the Attorney General’s Office to the United States Department of Justice.

After staying months detained in Guatemala , they were extradited to the United States Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares , on different dates, but both pleaded guilty in the case they are followed by alleged conspiracy with other people to wash around 28 million dollars of bribes from Odebrecht, directed at a senior Panamanian official, a close relative of his according to the United States. USA

They are accused in the United States, underlines The Associated Press, because a good part of the money laundering was done through accounts in New York banks.

The children of the former president signed an agreement with the New York prosecutor’s office