On Monday, a Panamanian court opened criminal proceedings against the former president Ricardo Martinelli. According to a report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Martinelli is accused of accepting $59 million in bribes from the disgraced Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. The Odebrecht scandal is far-reaching across Latin America, implicating hundreds of high-profile figures. In 2023, Martinelli requested asylum in Colombia after being found guilty of embezzling state funds to purchase shares in the media company Editora Panama America. According to a report in the Costa Rican newspaper, the Tico Times, another former Panamanian president, Juan Carlos Varela, is also accused of bribery and money laundering. If previous history is anything to go by, Martinelli could well be spending an extended stretch behind bars.
Tag: Odebrecht
Ex-Peruvian President Toledo deported from the U.S. to Face Corruption Charges.
Recently, the former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, who served from 2001 to 2006, arrived back in Peru after exhausting all legal avenues in the U.S. to avoid extradition. Peru is a country with a recent history of corrupt presidents; there have been no less than four former presidents that have faced serious allegations of misconduct. According to The Guardian, Toledo allegedly accepted $35 million from the notorious Brazilian construction company Odebrecht to win a construction contract to build a highway connecting Brazil and Peru. Odebrecht was involved in a massive corruption scandal in Brazil called Operation Car Wash that involved many Brazilian politicians and public figures taking bribes. Toledo will likely join Alberto Fujimori, Pablo Kuczynski, and Pedro Castillo in jail on corruption charges.
Crispin Corruption Report 