---
title: "Panama court rejects bail bid in long-running illegal wiretapping case"
date: 2025-08-05
modified: 2026-04-28
author: ""
url: https://panamadaily.news/panama-illegal-wiretapping-bail-rodriguez/
categories:
  - "Crime"
  - "News"
  - "Politics"
tags:
  - "National Security Council"
  - "Panama courts"
  - "Pegasus"
  - "Ricardo Martinelli"
  - "Ronny Rodríguez"
  - "wiretapping case"
---

# Panama court rejects bail bid in long-running illegal wiretapping case

## What Happened

The First Liquidating Criminal Court has denied a request for bail from Ronny Rodríguez, a former member of Panama’s National Security Council who has been wanted since 2015 in the illegal wiretapping case tied to the 2009-2014 government.

The decision, recorded in edict No. 71 dated July 29, was issued by Judge Águeda Rentería, who rejected Rodríguez’s petition to avoid detention. He remains summoned for trial in the case, which involves alleged illegal telephone interceptions and offenses against public administration.

## How the Case Reached This Point

Rodríguez has been a fugitive since 2015, when the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office Against Organized Crime issued orders for his questioning. Since then, his whereabouts have remained unknown, while arrest warrants issued by the former Sixteenth Criminal Court remain on file with the Judicial Investigation Directorate.

This is the second time the First Liquidating Criminal Court has turned down a bail request linked to Rodríguez. In May, the court also rejected a joint request filed by Rodríguez and William Pittí to avoid arrest in the same case.

## Background on the Wiretapping Investigation

The case centers on claims that communications of more than 150 people were intercepted from the National Security Council. A protected witness for the Public Ministry identified former council directors Gustavo Pérez and Alejandro Garuz as responsible for the operation.

Pérez and Garuz were sentenced to 50 months in prison by the Sixteenth Criminal Court, and the ruling was later upheld by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. The same witness said Rodríguez and Pittí operated the “Pegasus” system, purchased from Israeli firm NSO Group and installed in the council’s offices.

## Why It Matters

According to the testimony in the case, the surveillance targeted political leaders, labor organizers, union figures and even magistrates of the Supreme Court. The investigation also found that the National Security Council had operated a system of telephone interceptions against political opponents and social leaders during that period.

Former president Ricardo Martinelli, who governed from 2009 to 2014, was also investigated in the case but was found not guilty by a trial court. His case was initially handled by the Supreme Court because of his role as a deputy in the Central American Parliament, then transferred to ordinary courts after he resigned from that post.