Two Martinelli ministers get $6 a hectare land deals

The land purchase cloud hovering over Panama’s Minister of Labor has spread over the Minister of Health. Both are close associates of President  Ricardo Martinelli

Both Minister of Labor Alma Cortes and Health Minister Franklin Vergara  have bought large tracts of land through the Departmentof Agrarian Reform, at $6 a hectare , or one cent per 18 square meters says La Prensa. 

Cortes said on Monday, after the publication in La Estrella de Panama,of her purchase,that she had obtained  title to 88 Hectares in Las MargaritasChepo–east of the capital, paying $534 with the help of Victor Perez former minister of Agricultural Development. .
She said she has epent years for years trying to finalize the deal after acquiring  possessory rights  in 1992.{jathumbnail off}
Health Minister Vergara, bought 195 hectares, also in the district ofChepo, for which he paid the Treasury $1,176. 
Vergara, a native of the province of Los Santos, got  the land just four months after President Martinelli took office.
According to information from the Public Registry, Vergara requestedthe purchase of land to the Ministry of Agricultural Development in July2008. He received the award on November 16, 2009.
On March 30, 2010, Vergara donated equally the land (33.3%)  tothree children. These farms and were, registered in the Public Registry on December 3, 2009.
Agrarian Reform officials applied to both the minimum price of $6 per hectare established by the land legislation in force.