Former President Ricardo Martinelli announced that the Realizando Metas party will propose a law to hold the president, the relevant minister, and the comptroller jointly liable for failing to continue unfinished projects from a previous administration. The former president's reaction comes hours before President José Raúl Mulino inaugurates the Roberto Mariano Bula stadium in Colón. He noted that, although they have not received any notification from the entity, he hopes their response will come before the deadline that the law grants to the judge in the Odebrecht case so that in this litigation the guarantees that were denied to his client in New Business are respected. The lawyer reiterated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MIRE) is the only entity authorized, according to the Constitution, to certify the lifting of this Principle for Martinelli and has already certified that it has not received any request in this regard from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office or from the First Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime; therefore, the judicial authorities are incurring a violation of his rights. He added that the defense is committed to ensuring that the former president’s rights are respected; this includes the Principle of Specialty, the right to challenge evidence, and other grounds for nullity that were invoked during the hearing because he has not been linked to any illicit act related to state assets. “Congratulations to the people of Colón, let’s move forward, this is an important project,” said Martinelli, who took the opportunity to recommend the book “Judicial Terrorism” by Mery Alfaro de Villageliú. The former president recalled that the Bugaba hospital and the City of Health, among others, began during his administration and Mulino was the one who finished them. Martinelli recalls that the work on that sports coliseum on the Atlantic coast began during his administration, and in between, two governments passed, that of the Panameñista Juan Carlos Varela and that of the PRD, Laurentino Cortizo, without the building being finished. Furthermore, Martinelli asserts that the Metetí Hospital, the Amador Guerrero Hospital in Colón, the Hugo Spadafora Hospital, as well as roads and bridges, are still awaiting inauguration. In fact, Martinelli recalled that the same thing happened with the City of Health as with the baseball stadium. The construction of the City of Health began during his administration at a cost of $518 million, but subsequent presidents did not advance the project and it ended up costing, according to Martinelli, $2.2 billion. But that wasn’t the only project stalled by the next two administrations, as the Bugaba hospital in Chiriquí also had a stroke of luck. This hospital was recently inaugurated by the Mulino administration.
