Move to protect Panama financial system

WHILE THE TREASURER of Balboa Securities sits behind bars in Colombia awaiting extradition to the United States Panama’s  Superintendency of Securities has extended its intervention for an additional 30 days to protect the country’s financial system.

The move will give intervenor Rosaura González Marcos until July 4 to continue the assessment of the firm.

The intervention was ordered May 5, the same day the US Treasury Department announced the inclusion of the securities firm on the Clinton lLst for activities related to money laundering and drug trafficking. The decision was part of the investigation into the Waked Money Laundering Organization.

RINGLEADERS
The treasurer of the firm,  Nidal Waked, was identified by the Department of the Treasury as one of the ringleaders the money laundering operation, along with his uncle Abdul Waked.

If convicted, Nidal Waked, 44,  could be facing  a lengthy  prison term. A Florida prosecutor is calling for a  50 years sentence.

The extension was granted at the request of González Marcos, who said it was needed “to protect the stability of the market and the financial system itself.”