The Baltasar Garzon International Foundation (FIBGAR) won the appeal at a Madrid court to continue the judicial process against the Spanish construction company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, S.A. (FCC) for crimes in works done in Panama, La Prensa and La Estrella de Panama newspapers, among others, reported today.

FIBGAR was green-lit by the Criminal Court, when the 2nd Central Investigating Court of Madrid dismissed the lawsuit, considering that the Foundation did not have the requirements to make the accusation.

Since October 2020, the organization, led by former Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, has involved Panamanian government officials, led by Martinelli, for allegedly collecting 82.7 million dollars illegally, through front companies that hold an international circuit of bank accounts.

The appeal court assured ‘that the court order for which Mr. Ricardo A. Martinelli Berrocal’s criminal responsibility is excluded cannot be ratified in the present procedure that must also continue for him as investigated’, the Foundation said in a communique that was quoted by La Estrella.

So far, there have been no reactions from the former president, whose media empire made headlines when the Madrid Court blocked the criminal action and Martinelli himself challenged various media organizations on Twitter to publish the news of what he considered ‘a ridiculous complaint by Garzon about the FCC.’

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