Interpol arrest notice issued ex-Panamanian President Martinelli
Mon May 22, 2017 | 10:02pm BST
Interpol has issued an arrest notice for fugitive former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli to face charges he engaged in political espionage during his 2009-2014 term, a senior police official said on Monday.
The Central American country sent the U.S. State Department an extradition request for Martinelli last year, when he was believed to be living in Miami, after he was accused of having used government funds to spy illegally on more than 150 political rivals.
Marcos Cordoba, the police commissioner assigned to Panama's judicial investigations directorate, told Reuters that Interpol had issued a so-called "red notice" for Martinelli's arrest. Such notices are a request by the international police organisation to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition
An attorney for Martinelli, a supermarket tycoon, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But the former president has denied any wrongdoing and said on Twitter on Monday that his successor, Juan Carlos Varela, was going after him to divert attention from his own problems.
More:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-panama-martinelli-idUKKBN18I2K4?rpc=401&
LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141781398
