The Superior Court for Settlement of Criminal Cases of the First Judicial District of Panama, rejected as inadmissible the request for clarification presented by one of the former president’s lawyers, Ricardo Martinelli, within the criminal process followed against him in the New Business case, for the commission of the crime of money laundering.

The request for clarification was presented by the Cordobés lawyer Jean Pierre Miranda on December 21, 2023, against the second instance order number 109 of December 11, 2023 issued by this court followed in the case followed against Martinellii, Daniel Miguel Ochy and others noted.

The decision was reflected in edict No. 05 of January 5, 2024.

In the so-called “New Business” case, the Superior Court for Settlement of Criminal Cases of the First Judicial District of Panama, by second order No. 109 dated December 11, 2023, granted the announced appeals with suspensive effect. and formalized by the lawyers Luis Eduardo Camacho González, Carlos Eugenio Carrillo Gomila, José Félix Martín Rodríguez, Oswaldo Marino Fernández Echeverría, Rosendo Miranda Sánchez, Arturo Vicente Sauri Muñoz and Adriano Correa, private defenders of five defendants in this criminal case, among them a former president of the Republic.

According to the collegiate court, made up of judges Manuel Mata Avendaño, José Hoo Justiniani and Eyda Amarilis Juárez R., the formalization of the appeals presented by the lawyers meet the requirements demanded by law, in accordance with articles 1001, 2430 and 2436 of the Judicial Code.

In view of all of the above, the Superior Court for Settlement of Criminal Cases ordered that the present criminal case be elevated to the Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, for what is legally appropriate in relation to the second sentence No. ° 43 of October 24, 2023, issued by this court of second instance, which decided to confirm mixed sentence No. 02 of July 17, 2023, issued by the Second Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama.

The Superior Court for Settlement of Criminal Cases, in a ruling issued this October 24, 2023, confirmed the sentence against the President of the Republic, Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal, for the well-known New Business case, issued by the Second Liquidation Court of criminal cases last July 17.

In that ruling, Martinelli, who is currently a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic for the Realizing Goals Party (RM), was sentenced to 128 months in prison (10 years and eight months) for the crime of money laundering as the author. for the case known as New Business, a basket company used to collect funds from state contracts handled irregularly for the purchase of a publishing group.