Papadimitriu loses appeal over free land grab

PANAMA’S Supreme Court ruled against a constitutional claim filed against an Executive Decree which ordered the expropriation without compensation of 54 hectares of land in Juan Hombrón, Cocle province, and signed by the then Minister of Housing, José Domingo Arias.
The full Court’s ruling declaring the appeal “not viable,” was made on June 17, and was released this week.
The lawsuit was filed in April 2013 by lawyer Miguel Antonio Bernal representing TrappReal State Corporation- Family of former Minister Jimmy Papadimitriu-, who had acquired 23 hectares in John Hombrón.
Parents of former Minister of the Presidency were the “shareholders” of a majority of companies that received the free allocation of 14 farms in the coastal strip of Juan Hombrón during the past administration.
An October 16, 2011,an investigation by La Prensa revealed that the parents of the then Minister of the Presidency Jimmy Papadimitriu the then director of Land Titling Anabelle Villamonte, the former lawyer of their companies, , , ceded them free over 54 hectares – on the Pacific coast and adjacent to a large marsh with abundant mangroves
Villamonte worked until 2010 in Panama Fish Deli, a company owned by Papadimitriu and Maria Diamantis Bagatelles, the former Minister’s parents.