What Happened
Valentín Martínez Vásquez, the lawyer convicted in the New Business case, was acquitted after Panama’s Supreme Court of Justice accepted a review of his sentence and credited a notarized declaration from Riccardo Francolini.
Martínez had been under conviction for one year, seven months and 23 days. He was originally sentenced on July 17, 2023 to 80 months in prison for money laundering, along with four others, including former president Ricardo Martinelli. The conviction was later upheld on October 24, 2023 by the Superior Tribunal for the Liquidation of Criminal Cases, which increased the number of convicted people to eight. On February 1, 2024, the Supreme Court’s Second Criminal Chamber did not admit cassation appeals, and on March 4, the trial judge declared the sentence final.
Despite that finality, Martínez never entered prison. He filed a sentence-review request, and the same criminal chamber later ruled in his favor in a decision issued on March 12. Magistrates María Eugenia López Arias and Ariadne García voted to absolve him, while magistrate Maribel Cornejo dissented.
Why the Court Changed Course
The key element was a sworn declaration by Riccardo Francolini, one of the figures involved in structuring the purchase of shares in Editora Panamá América, S.A. (Epasa). Francolini had also reached a collaboration agreement with the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime, making him a central witness for prosecutors in the wider case.
In the declaration requested by Martínez’s defense, Francolini assumed responsibility for the facts that linked Martínez to the crimes under investigation. He invoked the attorney-client relationship and stated that Martínez had acted on his instructions, without criminal intent and without knowledge of the nature of the transactions.
The chamber accepted that argument and concluded that Martínez had acted as a lawyer following a client’s instructions, without dolo, or intent to commit a crime. Cornejo disagreed, arguing that the defense had not presented truly new evidence and that the materials did not satisfy the legal requirements of novelty, relevance and probative force.
The Transactions at Issue
Martínez had been convicted on two main facts. The first involved issuing a cashier’s check for $80,000 to New Business Services Limited, the shell company used to buy Epasa shares in December 2010. Francolini said he ordered the check to be prepared and that Martínez merely followed instructions, while the funds belonged to him and were under the custody of Dudley & Asociados.
The second involved five cashier’s checks totaling $1.3 million. Prosecutors and the original ruling tied those payments to a supposed advisory service related to FCC and the Ciudad de la Salud project, then known as Ciudad Hospitalaria. The court described the advisory contract as fictitious and said it was used to justify commission payments. The ruling also said the funds moved through local financial channels and through companies linked to Martínez and Francolini.
Broader Significance
The decision adds another dramatic turn to one of Panama’s most politically sensitive corruption cases. The New Business investigation has remained tied to allegations of money laundering, hidden financing and the use of corporate structures to channel funds connected to state contracts.
The ruling also shows the weight that later statements from cooperating witnesses can have in post-conviction review proceedings, especially when they contradict or reframe earlier testimony. In this case, the court found Francolini’s declaration more persuasive than the prior record and other testimony discussed by the defense and prosecution.
For Martínez, the result is a full acquittal after more than a year under conviction. For the New Business case, it is another reminder that even final judgments can be reopened when a court accepts a claim that new evidence changes the legal picture.