An incident of nullity, presented by the defense of former president Ricardo Martinelli, who is in transfer to the representative of the Public Ministry, caused the preliminary hearing for the so-called “New Business” case, scheduled for Monday, October 31, at 9:00 p.m. :00 am, was suspended.
Martinelli is accused of the alleged commission of the crime against the economic order in the form of money laundering.
Judge Baloísa Marquínez, of the Third Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, rescheduled this hearing for November 29, 2022, an alternate date already established.
According to the Judicial Branch, this hearing will take place in the courtroom of the Superior Court for the Settlement of Criminal Cases at 9:00 in the morning.
They reported that in order to guarantee the right to defense, a public defender was established, in the event that the private technical defender does not appear.
It is important to state that in this same process, the third judge for the Settlement of Criminal Cases, Baloísa Marquínez M., through a resolution dated Friday, October 21, 2022, issued Mixed Order No. 8 through which she called for trial to 20 people also accused of the crime against the economic order in the form of money laundering, contained in book II, title VII, chapter IV of the Penal Code, and set the plenary hearing date from April 17 to 28, 2023 at 9:00 a.m., and as an alternate date from May 23 to June 5, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. For this last date, the judge appointed alternate public defenders in order to guarantee the right to defense, in the event that private technical defenders do not appear.
