Matinelli link man extortion sentence upheld

 
826Views 0Comments Posted 24/11/2015

THE THREE-YEAR jail term for extortion, imposed on Valter Lavitola, the former fixer of deals between Italy and Panama, has been confirmed.. He was said to be exerting  strong arm tacatics  on behalf of former President, Ricardo Martinelli. 

The Italian company Impregilo was the victim, asked to fund a pediatric hospital in Veraguas and told it would be denied access to the Metro I project if  it did not comply.

Lavítola  7th lawyer, Sergio Cola, also serves as deputy of the Italian Parliament and is close to Silvio Berlusconi.

Cola tried to challenge the basis of the sentence with eloquent logic of procedural tricks referring first to the alleged incompetence of the court of Naples. After three hours of deliberation, the judges validated the conviction and left intact the penalty for the defendant who already has five sentences, two of them related to Panama.

Lavítola will need to sit in the dock of the court of Rome on January 19,accused along with former commercial director of Finmeccanica of trying to divert up to 25 million dollars in bribes in awards to Augusta Westland, Telespazio Argentina and Selex.