Soho Ghost Mall gets 50 days to find buyer

SOHO MALL  The former  flagship of the Waked family empire has 50 more days to find a buyer.

The once bustling luxury  mall on Calle 50  filled with stores offering   world renowned  brands, many of them owned by Waked, is now largely deserted, with its chichi  cafes and restaurants closed and visitors largely limited to the curious, or those on the way to see another La La Land in the VIP movie theater.

The US Treasury Department  has extended the the license that allows Soho Mall and its premises  to maintain commercial and banking relations

With American people and entities to Friday, April 28,  The previous license Friday, April 28, 2017 expired this Friday, March 10.

The short lived Soho Mall opened with great fanfare with  then President Ricardo Martinelli standing alongside  family patriarch Abdul Waked.

A major luxury hotel was to have been built alongside the mall, providing it with a regular flow of well heeled customers.

The castle in the sky came crashing  down  on May 5  2016, when, after a  seven  investigation, the mall, the  Waked  group and its businesses were included in the  Clinton List of activities related to drug trafficking and money laundering.

The assets of the shopping center were transferred to a trust of bankers, who are now trying to find a new owner.  The National Bank of Panama (BNP) acts as trustee.

Any sale must be endorsed by the US  Treasury Department.

If Soho Mall wants to be excluded from the Clinton List, the new owner must prove that he has no ties to the Wakeds.

The United States prohibits its citizens and entities from maintaining commercial and financial relations with the listed subjects.

The trust formula was used last year, so that the creditor banks of Felix B. Maduro another company in the Abdul Waked former  empire could be sold to Arrocha.