US-Canada lifting lid on Panama scandal
IT’S TAKEN a long time coming, but US and Canadian authorities may soon be taking action in the Financial Pacific (FP) brokerage scandal, which has left one person “disappeared” one stabbed and others threatened,while a bunch of insiders with political links linedtheir pockets.
The central figure in investigations by The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is ex-president Ricardo Martinelli reports La Estrella de Panamá.
The SEC which is the financial regulatory and supervisory body responsible for enforcing federal securities laws in the United States, and various US law enforcement agencies are investigating five possible crimes against Martinelli says a financial source that has participated with the North American authorities in several investigations in Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.
The source said that, in addition to the former president, the former Minister Ricardo Quijano is being investigated and a list of people related to the Financial Pacific brokerage.
Possible imputations include fraud, insider trading (buying and selling stocks with insider or confidential information) and money laundering.
The source indicates that among those investigated are also ‘three Americans and two Canadians’.
The informant , who has also collaborated with the Canadian authorities with financial analysis, commented that “once the investigations are completed, the next step will be to appeal to the US Court to evaluate the considerations and decide if there are enough elements to open a trial of those named , and there could be ‘confiscation of illegal funds’.
If so, said the source, the accusations or indictments, documents that could be public or kept in reserve (sealed indicments) will be formulated.
The background
After detecting irregular movements in the accounts used in the Financial Pacific securities office, the Superintendency of the Securities Market of Panama (SMV) filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office for the alleged crimes of money laundering and illicit transfer of funds.
One of the accounts mentioned in the complaint is High Spirit, which is associated with the ex-president Martinelli.
The link was discovered after the statements to the 13th Prosecutor by Mayte Pellegrini, an officer of the FP brokerage who said that ‘at least six times’ she talked by phone to ‘Rica’ Martinelli, son of the former president, who asked Information about the statement, balance and movements of High Spirit.
“Taking advantage of inside information, in addition to High Spirit, were three more accounts for the purchase and sale of shares of the mine Petaquilla Minerals Ltd.,” Pellegrini said.
The use of inside information is a crime known in the US as insider trading, which is punishable under the federal law of the country.
The La Estrella informant also cooperated as a financial analyst with the Canadan authorities, of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE), where the shares of Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. are registered.
According to the specialist, since 2010, two people informed the authorities of Canada and the United States of a series of irregularities that occurred in the purchase and sale of shares of the mine, which led to an investigation to gather evidence and statements.
The inquiries focus, among other things, on what happened at the beginning of Ricardo Martinelli’s government, when he gave the green light to Petaquilla Minerals Ltd.’s subsidiary in Panama, Petaquilla Gold, to export the first gold .
Although the permit was formalized in December 2009, the company made the announcement to its investors and general public several weeks earlier, on November 18, 2009, after Richard Fifer, the mine’s manager, held a meeting with Martinelli in September 2009.
In the last paragraph of a letter that was accessed by La Estrella and summarizes the meeting, Fifer thanks Martinelli for the invitation to ‘keep us continuously communicated electronically so that all decisions are consulted with you’.
Juan Manuel Martans, ex-superintendent of the Panama Stock Exchange, told La Estrella that “market sources point out that there is collaboration from the US authorities in the investigation into the possible crime of insider trading.
Martans says that at the time he was in charge of the institution from April to December 2014, there were suspicions of irregular transactions that were originating in some Financial Pacific accounts.
The former superintendent explains that an investigation was attempted in Panama; But did not thrive because of territorial issues.
“What is the point of conducting an investigation against a Panamanian investor who made insider trading in the United States and whose profit was made on the US market?” Martans said.
He added that the ex-official who sent an internal communication to his subordinates to explore the idea of opening a criminal investigation in Panama. Taking into account that the alleged crime was carried out in Toronto, where the shares of Petaquilla. are registered, and not in Panama, it was very difficult to open the process in the isthmus.
With this precedent, the SMV sent an unsuccessful query to the Toronto Stock Exchange.
