Panama seizes ex-president's helicopter over bribery claims

BY AFP 33 MINS AGO


Panama on Tuesday seized a helicopter belonging to a wealthy former president, Ricardo Martinelli, whose family is under suspicion of accepting bribes from a Brazilian construction group.

Prosecutors said in a statement they had taken "provisional possession" of the Airbus aircraft, registration N16261, after it was confiscated by authorities in Mexico.

Although the prosecutors' statement did not name Martinelli as the owner, the former leader and his lawyers confirmed ownership.

Martinelli, who went to live in self-exile in the United States after his 2009-2014 term, said on Twitter he was preparing a lawsuit for "helicopter theft."

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/panama-seizes-ex-president-s-helicopter-over-bribery-claims/article/489565#ixzz4dK6zgrmI

[center]






Martinelli, when he ran from Panama to visit his friend, Silvio Berlusconi,
in Italy when the heat was on regarding Panama's legal interests in him at home.