The Colombian government said on Saturday that he had granted asylum to Ricardo Martinelli, a former president of Panama who had been tracking for more than a year at the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City to evade a prison sentence for money laundering.
The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that had granted the asylum of Mr. Martinelli and had managed to travel by a diplomatic car from the Nicaraguan embassy to a local airport to take a flight to Colombia.
Mr. Martinelli, 73, a businessman who led Panama from 2009 to 2014, said on social networks on Saturday night he had arrived in Bogotá, the Colombian capital. He said he had granted asylum as a political refugee.
In 2023, Mr. Martinelli was convicted of money laundering in a case in which prosecutors said the funds were obtained from government contractors for the purchase of an editorial in 2010. It was a sentence to 10 years in prison and 11 million. The Panama Supreme Court confirmed the condemnation for appeal.
Martinelli said the case was politically motivated.
Nicaragua granted Mr. Martinelli Asylum last year, and hid in the country’s embassy in Panama City some furniture and his dog, Bruno. Initially he said he intended to campaign in the presidential elections of Panama in May 2024 of the Embassy.
Two months before the elections, the Panama Electoral Tribunal disqualified Mr. Martinelli to run due to his sentence in the case of money laundering.
Mr. Martinelli’s formula, José Raúl Mulino, took his place on the ballot and leaned strongly in his presidential legacy in the campaign. Mr. Martinelli supported him from inside the embassy.
Mr. Mulino won the elections easily.
