"Innocent men do not run away",  says former Panama president Juan Carlos Varela, reacting to a complaint filed against him alleged of money laundering and illegal association linked to the Odebrecht case.

He said that his legal representatives would attend the evidence validation hearing, on Thursday, June 25.

The complaint was filed in July last year by lawyers Miguel Antonio Bernal and Sidney Sittón (a lead member of the Ricardo Martinelli legal team

In a letter, Varela makes an obvious reference  to  Martinelli who fled Panama the day after he left office  : Today's hearing is the media effort of powerful interests with links to corruption, which saturate the judicial system to distract us from their own judicial problems."

According to the note, released by the Varela communications office,  the hearing is not a trial, it is a regular hearing to validate information and " as he has done at all times, former President Juan Carlos Varela is cooperating with the investigators, despite the fact that the complaint has no merit. "

He adds that, in Panama, anyone can file a complaint without any evidence. There are no consequences for filing " frivolous complaints " and wasting the time and resources of the Public Ministry (MP).

"Juan Carlos Varela, like every citizen, has the same rights as any other  Panamanian," says the note, and that "they can invade their privacy, tap their phone, manipulate and distort their messages, file claims based on false information, and can use the media. communication-related to those powerful interests with ties to corruption to amplify their lies, but at the end of the day they cannot take away their rights or create facts that do not exist, ”the note says.