The man who bought a helicopter for the sons of former president  Ricardo Martinelli, with alleged illicit funds will continue spending his days behind bars in El Renacer prison.

The Superior Court of Appeal reversed, on  Friday, August 21, the community work measure granted Raúl de Saint Malo García who is serving a 60-month prison sentence for money laundering linked to the  Odebrecht scandal. 

Judges Gladys Moreno, Gustavo De Gracia, and Asunción Alonso, reversed the decision of the compliance judge of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, Héctor Zarzavilla Pérez , who, on August 14, granted the measure of one day a week community work at the Emiliano Health Center Ponce in the Calidonia district.

The magistrates pointed out that in this case the compliance judge did not duly assess the need for equitable compensation to society for the damage caused. 

They added that the return of money made by Saint Malo was a result of the sentence agreement reached with the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, of which the sentence of five years in prison is part.

The hearing was held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to  Judge Zarzavilla Pérez,  De Saint Malo, “met all the requirements to substitute the prison sentence," which was appealed by the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

The investigation of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, De Saint Malo admitted that on instructions from the brothers Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares - sons of former President - he made payments for the purchase of a helicopter that was later apprehended on suspicion having been acquired with illicit money.