The damage to Panama due to acts of corruption being investigated by the Panamanian justice might amount to 3 billion dollars, according to economists, as quoted by lawyer Victor Orobio.
In an interview with the newspaper La Estrella de Panama, the advocate of one of the main accused, Rafael Guardia, said that the figures are unfathomable, and that this is the largest case of corruption in the country’s history.
Guardia, former director (2012-1014) of the National Assistance Program (NAP) besides confessing his crimes, contributes to the clarification of several files opened for the handling of public finances allocated to the agency, involving former president Ricardo Martinelli.
Furthermore, the defendant mentioned names of businessmen and politicians who benefitted from cost overruns, and even to finance campaigns of deputies from various parties, and in particular, the election expenses of the then ruling party Democratic Change, led by Martinelli.
My client told me he wanted to approach the society and explain that it was part of a system, that’s why the defense strategy is to collaborate, Orobio exposed to the newspaper.
Guardia and I have given the nation something that it has been waiting for many years: the hope that justice is for all, and the myth that only the poor go to jail is over, he emphasized.
When asked if you thought that the former president, who is in the United States, would return to Panama, the lawyer said he believes that he will return, because people are scared to lose their freedom, and today the situation is not propitious.
The judicial system has been activated, and not just the facts that my client confessed, but other testimonies point it out; the advice of his defense might be to look for refuge abroad and wait until the situation changes.
Panamanian society could feel revulsion against this man who assumes the defense of a confessed corrupt, and Orobio revealed about the topic that he had an existential crisis, but upon receiving congratulations, encouragement and positive signs removed from rejection, he feels encouraged in his work.