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New York:
The son of Panama’s ex-president Ricardo Martinelli was arraigned Saturday by a Brooklyn court docket on prices of conspiracy to launder tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in bribes.
The defendant, Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares, was extradited to america after being captured in Guatemala in 2020 at Washington’s request. His arraignment was digital as a consequence of pandemic-era measures.
His lawyer mentioned Ricardo Alberto has signed a plea settlement and is anticipated to formally enter a responsible plea throughout a listening to scheduled for Tuesday.
The choose declared him a flight danger and dominated he will likely be detained no less than till after that listening to.
The US case in opposition to Martinelli and his brother Luis Enrique is linked to the broader investigation into the Brazilian building firm Odebrecht.
Prosecutors say the brothers allowed hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to be paid into secret financial institution accounts within the identify of ghost firms.
Luis Enrique was extradited to the US final month and pleaded responsible within the US Jap District court docket to conspiring along with his brother to launder greater than $28 million in bribes from Odebrecht “for the advantage of his shut relative, a high-ranking public official in Panama” from 2009 to 2014.
Federal prosecutors used related language in detailing Ricardo Alberto’s case.
Investigations into Odebrecht have tarnished many leaders and political events in Latin America. Former bosses of the corporate have admitted in court docket to illegally distributing hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of bribes in trade for public contracts.
Former president Martinelli is himself below investigation within the Odebrecht scandal, however has introduced his intention to hunt re-election in 2024.
In 2016, Odebrecht and the petrochemical affiliate Braskem agreed to pay $3.5 billion in penalties after pleading responsible within the Jap District court docket.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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