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Pots of wineEx-Panamanian President Martinelli banned from entering US
Ricardo Martinelli is banned from entering the United States, along with his family, because of the “bribes” paid to him by the Brazilian group of BPT Odebrecht.
Ricardo Martinelli on January 25, 2023 in Panama City.
AFP
The ex-president “accepted bribes in exchange for irregularly awarding public contracts during his presidential term”, which makes “Mr. Martinelli and members of his family immediately ineligible to enter the United States,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Wednesday in a statement sent by the US Embassy in Panama.
This decision comes on the day of the expulsion from the United States to Panama of the two sons of the former president, who served two and a half years in detention for corruption. American justice had also sentenced them to a fine of 250,000 dollars in this case. They had been found guilty of taking $28 million in bribes from the Brazilian group Odebrecht, $19 million of which passed through bank accounts in the United States.
In Panama, the ex-president and his two sons have been charged with alleged money laundering in this case as well as in the scandal known as the “Blue Apple”, a system of collection of commissions on the amount of projects carried out under the Martinelli government (2009-2014).
The two sons took off from Newark airport, near New York, escorted by immigration police (ICE), their lawyer, Carlos Carrillo, told AFP. According to him, they were greeted by judicial officials when they got off the plane and were notified of the charges against them. But they will await their trial on bail.
The two brothers will not be allowed to leave Panamanian territory and will have to attend all court summonses for pending cases, their lawyer added.
(AFP)