WANTED SA: panamanian peps

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

PANAMA GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS FORBIDDEN TO TRAVEL TO U.S.A

FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA ~Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock ~

MANY PANAMANIAN PEPS ARE NO LONGER WELCOME IN THE UNITED STATES

The individual pictured above, on the left, Solomon Shamah, is the Panamanian Minister of Tourism. Yes, that is a Colombian mugshot, for the minister, a naturalized Panamanian, has been linked to arms trafficking in his native Colombia. The other individual, in the photo on the right, is Ramón Martinelli, a cousin of the Panamanian president; he was arrested for money laundering in Mexico.

The dirty little secret among Panama's governing elite: many Panamanian ministers have had their US visas revoked. This extreme action generally takes place only after the US Department of State receives evidence, from a law enforcement agency, that the subject is engaged in criminal activity. American authorities do not want individuals engaged in narcotics trafficking, or money laundering, visiting thre United States, where they could engage in further crimes, or in laundering their illicit wealth.

Some of the former Panamanian ministers have quietly, and quickly, resigned their offices, to avoid visa revocation, but others have decided to stay in power, and have lost their US visa privileges indefinitely. This is one of the reasons to avoid banking Panamanian PEPs, as many are under criminal investigation by American law enforcement agencies.

If you have a high net-worth Panamanian client who advises you that he is sending someone in his behalf, to your US bank, to conduct his banking business, you may want to find out whether he is no longer welcome to visit, and if so, what activities is he allegedly engaged in. Bank clients who hare barred from visiting the United States are too high risk to retain as customers.

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PANAMA GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS EXPOSED IN MULTI MILLION DOLLAR INSIDE TRADING SCANDAL

FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA ~Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock ~

SENIOR PANAMANIAN PEPS AND PRESIDENT ALL NOW HIGH RISK

The evidence disclosed by a Panamanian whistleblower, which has implicated most of the heads of the country's ministries, and its president, in a massive insider trading scandal, when you add in the other corruption issues, have effectively eliminated these individuals as suitable bank clients, hereafter unable to open or maintain any bank accounts outside of the Republic of Panama.

The Financial Pacific scandal, which continues to rock Panama, indicates that all the ministers, and the President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, illegally earned millions of dollars, much of which is located in secret bank accounts not linked to its true owners.

Since senior PEPs often choose to have their subordinates move their dirty assets out of the country for safekeeping, I humbly suggest that compliance officers at international banks that observe any Panamanian nationals seeking to initiate a new account relationship, take a hard look at the new client; is he or she a PEP, by any broad definition of the term ? They may be attempting to hide these illicit profits outside Panama.

The prudent action is to decline their business, so long as corruption among ranking Panamanian officials remains the way they choose to do business.

One more point: You do not want to be named in North American media for banking illegal insider trading profits, when investigators from Canadian market regulatory agencies, such as IIROC, and the Ontario Securities Commission, or Canadian law enforcement agencies, come around, for the mining securities involved were traded in Canada.

Accepting any large deposits, from prominent Panamanian PEPs, at this time, is unwise. If you do not fully understand why, ask your outside bank counsel to explain the potential for liability, as well as the potential for serious reputation damage.

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