Old money laundering case re-examined
AN INVESTIGATION which led to long prison sentences for three people involved in bringing suitcases stuffed with money into Panama but was overturned by the Second Superior Criminal Court has been re-opened and added to the current money laundering probe of the Waked family.
The latest investigation was opened after the decision by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to place businesses and individuals linked to the Waked family on the Clinton list on suspicion of money laundering.
A judicial source confirmed to La Prensa that Prosecutor Markel Mora has added the older case to the file. In that case, the higher court revoked 80 month sentences handed down against Ariadna Hernandez-Lozada, María Fernanda González and Ali Abd Fares-Shaaban for money laundering.
According to the source, Mora is reviewing the evidence that was compiled by Drugs Prosecutor José Abel Almengor who was named a Supreme Court Judge by Ricardo Martinelli but reigned undere a cloud after 14 months.
Mora will also look at the handling of a legal assistance request filed in 2007 by Colombia for information on businesses linked to the Wakeds. Records indicate that assistance was never provided.
Waked’s current lawyer, who has downplayed the current DEA and US Treasury case against Abdul Waked, defended the three accused at the earlier trial.
the review of this information, the prosecutor’s office is investigating money laundering claims made by the U.S. against the Wakeds.
