Court took 4 years to OK money laundering probe

IT TOOK  four years for Panama’s Supreme Court to  accept a 2007, request from Colombian prosecutors for help  in investigating the Waked Group (Wisa) for suspected  money laundering activities,  as it considered a blocking move by a lawyer for Waked.

Te lawyer is currently part of the Ricardo Martinelli  defense team stalling attempts to bring the ex-president to trial on numerous charges.

The latest revelations published in  La Prensa, cast a fresh shadow over Abdul Waked’s public statements that he had no knowledge that the family empire was being investigated.

In December 2007, The Colombia General Prosecutor’s Office  sent a letter to Panama  asking for information about Abdul Waked, his nephew, Nidal Waked, and companies in the Waked Group. The request    sought  information about the flow of money between Panama and Colombia. The request was opposed by lawyer ans current Parlacen deputy Carlos Carrillo .

The revelations come in the wake of news that the DEA opened an investigation into the Wakeds due to its links to a person who allegedly ran a network that smuggled money into Panama through Tocumen International Airport. That was prompted by an incident in August 2006 when a person was discovered bringing more than $200,000 into Panama.

The person at the head of the network, Ali Abd Fares Shaaban, said between $2 million and $4 million a week entered through Tocumen. He also linked the cash to the Waked Group through receipts and invoices found in his residence.

The plea for cooperation madeby  Colombian authorities  was based on “the preliminary investigation of the National Unit for Termination of Forfeiture and against Money Laundering “.

The names of people and companies they asked to investigate included Abdul Waked and Nidal Waked, the company Waked Internacional, all declared part of operations related to money laundering “.

The prosecutor had additional elements that made the order feasible.  In  August  2006, a Mexican carrying over  $ 200,000 in undeclared cash was arrested.at Tocumen International.

In a controlled delivery of the money, two arrests were made , one of them, Ali Abd Fares Shaaban, who received money from the “mule”who boarded a flight from Mexico to Panama.

Fares Shaaban acknowledged that in the previous four or five  years he  had received between $2 million and $4 million a week through Tocumen.When his residence was raided, authorities seized receipts or invoices totaling $10 million dollars, “for many companies, including the Wisa Group, SA”, says a  May 11 letter  from  the DEA  director in Panama to the   Public Ministry.

Colombian authorities, asked Panama for listings of  customers or distributors of Waked International Group, S.A.  in Colombia and their transactions and customer account statements  over the previous t five years.

They called for a criminal background check of Abdul Mohamed Waked Fares, Sain Said Hamed Fares, Walid Ali Waked El Hage, Nidal Waked Hatum and Ali Mohamed Waked Fares, as well as a judicial inspection at the offices of  products billing and marketinging  to Colombia,

The Public Ministry granted the Colombian  request  in  January 2008,

But those referred to in the  request  letter were not satisfied with the  the resolution that agreeing  to the request ,  and legal stalling moves were initiated. After  four years  the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Public Ministry.

The court noted   that “”M oney laundering can only be displayed and researched by “detailed and thorough review of the books and accounts”, carried in companies that could be involved in illicit and by “austere revision of absolutely all documents, books and other elements of the company, such as resumes, spreadsheets payroll, medical affiliations, administrative acts, bind and unbind personal, personal data, mainly the residence of managers, employers and assigned workers “.

Consequently, the judges agreed that under the circumstances, “it is clear that the amplitude of the contested measure is consonant with the purpose of the investigation as it is given to assist in the investigation of the probable existence of money laundering”.

Consequently, the full Court did not accept the maneuvers of Carlos Carrillo.

With all this in play, Abdul Waked continues to deny any knowledge of investigations of the family operation, and his nephew, Nidal,  in Colombia awaits extradition to the US, where prosecutors are calling for a 50-year jail term.