The U.S. government has approved the extradition of ex-President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli . The current President Juan Carlos Varela confirmed that the U.S. state Department granted this request.
66-year-old Ricardo Martinelli is wanted in Panama on charges of illegal wiretapping and corruption. Since June 2017, he has been in Miami, Florida.
Ricardo Martinelli, who served as President of the country from 2009 to 2014, denies all suspicions and says that the charges against him are politically motivated.
“I can tell you that the Ministry of foreign Affairs, through our Embassy in Washington, received a letter from the us state Department about the decision to extradite former President Martinelli,” said Juan Carlos Varela.
According to lawyer Martinelli Sidney Sitton, the transfer of the former President to Panama can be carried out “in the following hours, today, tomorrow, Monday or Tuesday.”
In 2015, the Supreme court of Panama ordered the arrest of Martinelli for the use of state funds for the illegal wiretapping of 150 opposition members. The ex-President is also accused of trading in local visas and corrupt practices, said BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44418284
Note that a few of her before the trial in his homeland Martinelli flew to the United States. In June 2017, a request for his extradition was issued, and Ricardo Martinelli was taken under Federal supervision near his home in coral Gables, Florida,
In response, Martinelli applied for political asylum, claiming that the charges against him were part of a political vendetta, and his lawyers began to prepare a series of appeals against extradition.
Recall that in 2016, Ricardo Martinelli took third place in the ranking of the most corrupt people in the world according to the site Unmask the Corrupt in the popular vote.
