PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – A Panama judge on Tuesday called two former presidents, as well as a slate of other high-profile figures, to trial over money-laundering related to the Odebrecht bribery probe, a sweeping corruption investigation that has rippled across Latin America.
The country’s state attorney’s office said in a tweet a judge had summoned 36 people to trial over money-laundering charges, a group which also includes six former ministers, former officials, businessmen and other individuals.
Ricardo Martinelli, Panama’s president from 2009 to 2014, has been summoned along with his sons Ricardo and Luis, who were in May sentenced to three years’ prison by a U.S. court for helping launder millions of dollars in bribe payments made by Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht.
The judge also summoned Martinelli’s successor and vice-president Juan Carlos Varela, who served as president until 2019. Varela and Martinelli were banned from leaving Panama in 2020, while investigations against them were being carried out.
Varela was being investigated for allegedly accepting Odebrecht donations through his political party, and Martinelli for allegedly diverting public funds during his term to buy a media outlet, as well as being imputed in the Odebrecht case.
Both have denied committing crimes and Martinelli plans to run for presidency again in 2024.
Neither Martinelli nor Varela have publicly commented on the summons. The trial would begin in August next year.
Odebrecht and its parent company Braskem, Brazil’s largest petrochemicals company, had in 2016 agreed to pay $3.5 billion to settle bribery-related charges brought by U.S., Brazilian and Swiss regulators.
The scandal over bribes for public works contracts spread to other countries where Odebrecht did business, including Peru, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia.
(Reporting by Eli Moreno; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Sarah Morland and Lincoln Feast)
