Panama - Former President
About
Ricardo Martinelli, a supermarket tycoon and politician, served as president of Panama from 2009 to 2014, after winning his second bid for the office. He previously served in a number of government positions.
In 2015, Martinelli left Panama the same day that the country’s Supreme Court voted to approve an investigation of public corruption allegations against him. Martinelli went to Guatemala, where he asked whether he had immunity as a member of the Central American Parliament and was told he didn’t enjoy special protection. He eventually made his way to Miami. In December 2015, Panama issued a warrant for Martinelli’s arrest. He was arrested in the U.S. in June 2017 and extradited a year later to face charges of embezzlement and illegal wiretapping.
Panamanian prosecutors alleged that Martinelli used surveillance software to spy on 150 people, including political opponents, activists and journalists. In 2015, news outlets reported that authorities were investigating whether a company owned by Martinelli’s brother-in-law, Aaron Ramón Mizrachi Malca, made payments to the Israeli company NSO Group for the spyware known as Pegasus.In 2019, a Panamanian court ruled Martinelli not guilty in the espionage case, but prosecutors won an appeal and a new trial began in June 2021.
Martinelli denies the allegations and claims that he’s a victim of political persecution initiated by the government of President Juan Carlos Varela, Martinelli’s former vice president turned rival.
Mizrachi told ICIJ that his company, Caribbean Holding Services Ltd., was cleared in the investigation and that he was never investigated or charged in the espionage case.
Mizrachi also said he was a victim of political persecution by Varela’s government. He added that, as a result of the allegations related to his company, he had to cease operations. Caribbean Holding Services was incorporated in 1997 and used to represent “technology and communications companies from countries like the U.S., European nations and Israel to provide technological solutions” to Latin American countries, Mizrachi said.
Separately, in 2021, Panama’s anti-corruption prosecutor accused Martinelli, Varela and 12 other public officials of corruption and money laundering related to the cash-for-contracts scheme led by Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. Martinelli and Varela have both denied accepting bribes.
In July 2020, Martinelli’s sons, Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares, were arrested in a Guatemalan airport after the U.S. Department of Justice charged them in the Odebrecht bribery scheme. The U.S. accuses the brothers of “serving as intermediaries for approximately $28 million in bribe payments made by and at the direction of Odebrecht to a then high-ranking government official in Panama ... who was a close relative of the defendants.” The brothers remain jailed in Guatemala awaiting extradition.
The Martinellis deny the allegations.
In response to questions from ICIJ, Ricardo Martinelli posted his answers on Twitter and said “As a law-abiding citizen, I will wait for the conclusion of the case, which I am sure will demonstrate how it was manipulated from the start through coercion.” He added: “This is what I call ‘political terrorism and lawfare’ done by former President Varela.”
Martinelli also has ties to two founding partners at one of the law firms whose leaked records are part of the Pandora Papers: Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee (Alcogal). Martinelli appointed Jaime Alemán as Panama’s ambassador to the U.S. in 2009. Alemán left the position in 2011. (He said he resigned; Martinelli said he was fired.) Another Alcogal founder, Anibal Galindo, was the vice president of Martinelli’s political party, Cambio Democratico and served as a presidential advisor to him.
In 2020, Martinelli split from Cambio Democratico and founded a new political party, Realizando Metas (Realizing Goals), with plans to run for president in 2024.
Political Career
President of Panama (2009-2014)
Presidential candidate (2004)
Chairman, Board of Directors of the Panama Canal Authority and Minister for Canal Affairs (1999-2003)
President and founder of Democratic Change political party (1998)
Director of Social Security (1994-1996)
In The Pandora Papers
Pandora Papers’ records show that Martinelli was a director of Panagroup Ltd., a company registered by Alcogal in the Bahamas in 1997. The company was closed in 2010. In response to questions from ICIJ, Martinelli said that Panagroup was a holding company for a bank and that he had minimal participation, owning 1% of the shares. Both Martinelli and Alcogal said that Martinelli wasn't a client of the firm.
The records also show that Alcogal was the registered agent for three offshore companies owned by Mizrachi, Martinelli’s brother-in-law, including Caribbean Holding, which had allegedly been used to pay for the Pegasus spyware, according to news reports. In 2015, Alcogal filed a Suspicious Activity Report to the British Virgin Island (BVI) financial authorities after the Pegasus spyware story was reported. Alcogal resigned as registered agent of Caribbean Holding. Caribbean Holdings is now inactive.
Pandora Papers records show that Alcogal incorporated the companies Pachira Ltd. SA and Mengil International Ltd. in Belize, at the request of Banca Privada d’Andorra -- Pachira in 2012 and Mengil in 2013-- and moved their registration to Panama in 2014. In 2016, Alcogal filed Suspicious Activity Reports to the Panamanian authorities after news outlets reported that a former Odebrecht executive confessed the companies were used to pay bribes to one of Martinelli’s sons in exchange for public contracts.
Neither of Martinelli’s sons appears in leaked documents related to Pachira or Mengil. Alcogal wrote in internal memos that it “considered” two men for whom it had issued powers of attorney – not the Martinelli brothers – to be the actual owners. In 2017 those two men told Panamanian authorities that Ricardo Martinelli Linares was behind both companies, according to news reports.
In his response to ICIJ, Martinelli denied any relationship to Pachira and Mengil. “I don't have information on payments made by or to anybody except myself,” he said. About the two people who held power of attorney to operate the companies, Martinelli confirmed that one of them had worked for one of his family’s companies. He doesn’t know the other man, he said.
Pandora Papers show that Luis Enrique Martinelli and his brother Ricardo Alberto are linked to a total of four offshore companies. They appear together as directors of Albatros Investing Ltd. and Milestars Invest Ltd., registered in 2012 by Trident Trust in the BVI. Luis Enrique also appears as director and beneficial owner of Dryvalley Holdings Ltd. Records also show Ricardo Alberto as the director and beneficial owner of Offshore Investor Assets Ltd.
Secrecy Jurisdictions
Belize
The Bahamas
British Virgin Islands
Secrecy Broker
At the heart of the Pandora Papers are 14 offshore firms that help clients establish companies in secrecy jurisdictions. This profile draws on leaked data from these providers:
Discover this Power Player’s offshore connections.
The information on this profile is current as of October 3, 2021. Read more about the Pandora Papers data.