Spy in from the cold has permanent residence in Panama

A FORMER CIA agent, wanted in Italy to serve a long prison sentence has been living safely in Panama and was within 24 hours of receiving his cedula when he was arrested on the Costa Rican border.

An international arrest warrant had been issued through Interpol, but within 48 hours of his arrest he was released and on his way to the United State

The Panamanian authorities initially remained secret on the detention and release of former agent Robert Seldon Lady, it was known he had permanent residence in the country.
Lady was captured on July 17 at the customs post of Paso Canoas and released 48 hours later despite an extradition request from Italy on charges of kidnapping and torture against Muslim cleric Osama Hasam Narr, in 2003 .
Italy’s Minister of Justice of Italy, Anna Maria Cancelleri, complained in a public statement that a request for extradition was rejected by Panama without explanation.

The CIA's ex head of operations In Milan, received permanent resident status in 2007 during the administration of President Martin Torrijos, and then, in June this year, Immigration authorized the Electoral Tribunal to issue him a cedula (Panamanian identity card)
Lady, who had no restrictions on entering or leaving the country, planned to collect the on July 18.
He had acquired a residence in the capital and had planned to buy another property in Chiriqui, according to reports says La Prensa

In an extensive report on Sunday, July 28, La Prensa says Lady has been, in and out of Panama since 2007 without any legal or immigration restriction.
The director of the National Immigration Service (SNM), Javier Carrillo, Lady earned his residence in the country with a tourist visa pensioner, protected by Law 9 of June 8 of 1987, which grants exemptions for retirees, pensioners, and retired annuitants.
According to Carrillo, according to the record that the SNM has, Seldon Lady met at that time with all the requirements of the law to apply for that status, and then I could get in and out of the country at will.
He in fact resided in Panama, although authorities do not know exactly when.
The Seldon Lady permanent residence was granted on September 18, 2007 by the then director of NMS, retired police commissioner National Sinisterra Clovis.
Sinisterra himself claims not to remember this process among the many who had to sign at that time. "I have no idea," he told La Prensa.
With a tourist visa pensioner, the former agent got the right to file for a Panamanian cedula, but he did not follow through until the middle of this year.
Sources of the Electoral Tribunal (TE) confirmed that the agency received authorization to issue the writ SNM Seldon Lady in June and that the U.S ex spy wasto get the document in morning of Tuesday July 16 , the day before he was arrested on the border with Costa Rica.
Although the card was ready the morning of July 17, Seldon Lady did not get it and it remains with the Directorate of Certificates of TE … number E-8-113384.
His records in the TE show that he was born in Honduras on February 5, 1954 and that his parents are Aura Montoya and Billy Seldon Lady.
Unlike most official records in the TE verification system photo of Lady does not appear.
Sources who knew him in the country told La Prensa that he lived unobtrusively in an apartment in the capital, and had plans to buy another property in Chiriqui.
However, his name does not appear as the owner of any residence in the capital, according to the Public Registry. Neither is it mentioned in the listings of corporations.
According to the sources,he could be seen regularly when exercising or walking in Parque Omar.
The sources also said that he worked for a mining company in Panama, providing security services with James Ventura a former official of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) .
DEA sources, declined to comment on the relationship between the two ex agentd
Since leaving Italy, in January 2005, Seldon Lady has been in different cities around the world, including Panama.
According to sources, he has visited to El Valle de Angeles in Honduras, and Punta Gorda, Florida.
He has also been seen in Virginia, Washington, DC, for monthly visits to the headquarters of the CIA and in Italian restaurants in Manhattan..
In addition, there are records of trips to Spain and Switzerland. His last move was to the neighboring Costa Rica.

Seldon Lady was captured the on July 17 nth on the border with Costa Rica, and although at the time he was a fugitive from Italian justice requiring that he be extradited to that country, the Panamanian authorities released him 48 hours later.

Under this procedure, the director of NMS merely confirmed that Costa Rican Immigration officials arrested him in his territory and returned him to Panama through the Paso Canoas border post, where he came from.
After that, he was handed over to Interpol authorities in Panama and the SNM involvement in the caseended
According to Carrillo, the institution in charge did not intervene in the proceedings
Other sources, who preferred not to be identified, reported that the ex spy was detained a few hours in Paso Canoas until his identity was verified, after which he was transported by car to the capital, escorted by officers of the National Police in civilian clothes.

The news on the release of Seldon Lady was confirmed by the State Department spokeswoman United States, Marie Harf. "I understand that he is on the way or already back to the United States," said Harf told reporters on July 19.
The next day, the Security Minister, Jose Raul Mulino, said the decision was taken because Italy did not formalize the extradition request on time.
In his view, the information provided by Italy did not fit with the Panamanian procedural rules.
According to Mulino, Panama could only retain Seldon Lady for 48 hours and after that time he had to be freed, as would any other domestic, or foreign.
The following Monday, however, says La Prensa the foreign minister, Fernando Nunez Fabrega said his office never knew of Lady’s presence in the country, although they called all the checkpoints on the border.
The Chancellor explained that the request for extradition by the Italian judicial authorities was rejected because the documents were in Italian and not Spanish, a prerequisite for processing.