OFF THE CUFF: A Panama real life whodunit

ON THE SECOND anniversary of the disappearance of an auditor investigating the embezzlement of $12 million from the Financial Pacific (FP) brokerage, his relatives have been meeting with officials from the Attorney General’s Office to discuss progress in the investigation of what has all the hallmarks of a whodunit drama.

Vernon Ramos, the former Assistant Director of Financial Analysis of the Superintendency of Securities was last seen at his home on November 16, 2012; during the performing of audits of anomalies at FP then estimated at $ 12 million.
After his disappearance and following statements by Mayte Pellegrini, former employee of FP and one of 13 people accused of financial crimes to the detriment of the brokerage, said Ramos met her days before his disappearance.
According to Pellegrini, Ramos asked for three FP accounts, among them, High Spirit, which she says was used by former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) to acquire and manipulate shares of Petaquilla in the Canadian securities market.
This year another Superintendency investigator was stabbed while on his way to the FP offices near Parque Uracca, and a former Superintendency senior employee is under investigation for passing information to the brokerage which has been shut down.
The two principal owners of FP are free, while Pellegrini who alleges that the former Attorney General Jose Ayu Prado persuaded her to change her evidence relating to Martinelli, is in jail. Ayu was later appointed to the Supreme Court by Martinelli and is now its president.
Roberto Moreno, specialized Organized Crime Prosecutor, said the National Security Council and the Directorate of Judicial Investigation (DIJ) are involved in the search for Ramos.
Sabina Ho Ramos said it is important to continue the prosecution for the disappearance of her husband and now it will be strengthened by the involvement of other principals.
She recently appeared on television to tell those responsible for her husband’s disappearance that any injury to herself and her family would not go unnoticed.
Meanwhile the tangled web of former administration relationships appears to be unraveling as more light is thrown on corruption, brought into the spot light by extravagant living.