A dissolving powerbroking circle

THE VAUNTED inner circle of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli  is broken and many of its members who once flaunted their  access to the corridors of power are now fugitives, or under restriction, from country or house arrest  to detention behind bars while awaiting trial in various corruption scandals.

Most of them reports El Siglo are prominent businessmen, who, according to prosecutors,  were able to increase their fortunes by winning multi million-dollar contracts from the government.

There are also fringe players who like those looking over the shoulders of big time hustlers at a casino, skirted the circle but were still able to pad their bank balances with  imaginative pricing deals.

Among the real inner circle elite   were entrepreneurs Gabriel ‘Gaby’ Btesh and Ricardo ‘Ricky’ Calvo who, after being accused of corruption immediately fled the country. Their whereabouts are unknown.

They are both wanted by prosecutors  for their roles in the Tonosi irrigation where bribes were distributed to circle members by Pipo Virzi, who once controled Banco Universal, now seized and sold.

Tonosí, cost Panama more than $31 million, for little or no work.

Another who skipped  the country a day after being uncovered by La Prensa for his role  in buying eavesdropping  equipment was Aaron Mizrachi, Martinelli’s brother in law.

Family connections are useful in time of stress and Mizrachi’s outgoing flight was aboard Martinelli’s private jet, sent post haste from Miami to Albrook Airport.

His son Mayer Mizrachi, was  also wanted by Panamanian authorities  but he made the mistake of taking a regular flight from Fort Lauderdale, just down the road from Miami, and was arrested in Cartagena  by the Colombian police. The Foreign Ministry  is handling his  extradition.

Navin Bhakta, consultant and former partner  of Martinelli  and his sons in a hydropower project, now under criminal investigation has also fled the country to places unknown..

Another on the run is Adolfo de Obarrio,   former private secretary and messenger boy  of Martinelli.

De Obarrio faces a preventive  detention order  for multiple crimes against public administration.

Luis Enrique Martinelli, son of Martinelli, and Alejandro Garuz Adames, son of former Security Secretary Alejandro Garuz, fled  the country when the hydropower scandal broke.

Alejandro Garuz is behind bars facing trial for wiretapping and his role in the Finmeccanica $250 million contract where $25 million is reported to have ended up in the hands government officials.

There is an even longer list of former Cabinet ministers, officials and  administrators many behind bars awaiting trial in  over a score of corruption cases.

According to Ricardo Martinelli, who is facing  multiple corruption charges as well as illegal wiretapping, all, like him,  are victims of political persecution.