THE CD PARTY presidential candidate in the 2014 Panama election is under the spotlight of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP)  investigating money laundering and organized crime as the Odebrecht  investigation  widens.

José Domingo “Mimito” Arias whose vice-presidential running mate was Marta Martinelli, former First Lady and wife of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli.

Arias has had several meetings with  prosecutors to try to explain the origin of funds for his  electoral campaign, but  his  explanations do not seem to be very convincing reports La Prensa

His political strategists from Brazil, Mónica Moura And Joao Santana have confessed that this campaign was financed  by Odebrecht, with more than $15 million .

The prosecution cites checks paid in favor of the company of the Brazilian couple issued by the company José Domingo Arias 2014, S.A., Issued by the company José Domingo Arias 2014, S.A., "funds of which there is no certainty of the lawfulness of their origin, "the accusers contend.

The Superior Anti-Corruption Special Prosecutor's Office has asked the court  to rate the investigations  related to Odebrecht in Panama, specifically of Constructora Internacional del Sur, S.A., and the financing of the  Domingo Arias campaign  to rate the investigation "as an organized crime".

Originally, the research was carried out under the theory of the commission of money laundering offenses and against the public administration. The request seeks, more time to advance the investigations carried out by the Public Ministry since it has the legal certainty that the company Constructor Norberto Odebrecht,  … made payments to Panamanian officials for the sole purpose of guaranteeing the awarding of contracts for the construction of projects in Panama," prosecutors say.

In their support, prosecutors contend that "we are in the presence of an organized  criminal group, composed of more than three people, who have acted for several years, …  it is an organization which has been operating since 2009, in which its members have interacted in the coordination, and collaboration of criminal acts by creating and using offshore companies to conceal illicit money, through the accounts which they maintained in different countries of the world ".

Transnational criminal
These facts show, say prosecutors, that they are in the presence of a " Transnational criminal ", that  attacked the economy and the order o the State.

Accused
Several suspects  have been accused, among them, the director of Odebrecht in Panama, André Campos Rabello; The beneficiary of the Constructora International del Sur accounts Olivio Rodrigues Junior; Petrobras executives, convicted of corruption in their native country; Lawyers of the firm Rosas & Rosas; executives of Odebrecht in Panama, who received cash payments of monies deposited in bank accounts Of Rosas & Rosas, from  Constructora Internacional del Sur,  Juan Carlos Rosas and Rosa Mari Molino Paz and the The strategists Joao Santana and his partner  Mónica Moura.

Moura and Santana signed professional services contracts with the party Cambio Democrático (CD) , whose founder is former president Ricardo Martinelli, arrested in Miami and  awaiting a ruling on  a petition for his extradition to Panama.