Nidal Waked to stay in US jail until Oct. 30 trial

A BAIL APPLICATION by Panama citizen Nidal Waked, was turned down last  week by a US Federal judge  for the second time since he was extradited from Colombia to the United States  in January.

Waked a key member of Panama’s Waked family empire, headed by Abdul Waked,   will await his  Oct. 30 money laundering trial in a Florida prison.

The federal judge in charge of the case, Robert Scola, denied the request of Waked’s  lawyers asking him to revoke the previous decision of the magistrate on duty who initially rejected his original bail application. .

The prosecutor assigned to the case, told the court that the government needs 10 days to file his case against Waked Hatum, while defendant lawyer Norman Allen Moscowitz said the defense would need two to three weeks to present  his evidence.

Waked 45,  accused in the United States of being one of the largest launderers of illegal drug profits, pleaded not guilty last month to a judge in Miami’s Federal Court, who denied bail for the first time

And ordered him to be detained until the trial. Waked Hatum was extradited from Colombia and a day later appeared for the first time in federal court in downtown Miami.

Born in Colombia, Waked Hatum,  is  however a Panamanian citizen , and has  a passport from Spain and a residence in Canada.

This was one of the factors that convinced the judge to deny bail.

“He has passports from Panama, Colombia, Spain and some sort of status in Canada and is an international traveler,” Judge John O’Sullivan said as a prelude to his Jan. 26 decision.

“He  also seems to have access to money and influence in Panama and could have an escape route Therefore, he  must be kept in detention. “

The  prosecutor repeated these reasons in a court document that lodged with Judge Scola’s court before Wednesday’s hearing in which Scola rejected the new bail request.

“To begin with,” the prosecutor wrote , “it must be borne in mind that the accused is a foreigner who has citizenship of three countries, as well as residence in a fourth , and who has no ties in the United States.

“ His wife and children are also citizens of other countries, and his wife was not allowed to visit the United States. Such factors create an obvious incentive to flee. “

Tamen also noted in his document that Waked was a foreigner who could not enter or remain in the United States legally and therefore the immigration authorities had already filed a request not to let him go free on bail.

“This means that no matter what happens next, if he left the federal Detention Center in Miami, he  would be transferred immediately to the Immigration Detention Center in Krome,” the prosecutor  wrote.

Three Panama legislators and a Civil Defense (Sinaproc) official had written testimonials for Waked. The Sinaproc official lost his job.