Former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli was sentenced Tuesday to more than 10 years in prison for money laundering.

Martinelli, 71, had been trying to mount a political comeback in next year’s general elections, but a judge sentenced him to 128 months in prison in a case that revolved around the purchase of a media company.

The supermarket magnate who governed Panama from 2009 to 2014 was elected by his party last month as its presidential candidate for the May 5 election.

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The case, known locally as "New Business," dates back to 2017 and concerns the 2010 purchase of a publishing company that owns national newspapers.

Prosecutors said companies that had won lucrative government contracts during Martinelli’s presidency funneled money to a front company that was then used to purchase the publisher. The transactions involved a complex series of foreign money transfers totally $43 million. The front company collecting the money was called "New Business."

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In closing statements at trial in June, prosecutor Emeldo Márquez had requested the maximum sentence for Martinelli, which would have been 12 years.

The judge also fined Martinelli $19 million

Martinelli had denied wrongdoing and maintained that he was the victim of a political persecution.