Waked launches $165 million lawsuit

ABDUL WAKED, accused by US Treasury authorities of  heading  a criminal group linked to Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, is launching a court case claiming $165 Million for the loss of the Felix B Maduro retail store chain.

He lost it after his  group of companies were placed on the Clinton list which prohibits US citizens or companies from doing business with those on the list.

In the suit, Waked’s defense requires $ 165 million for damages caused to the businessman by the sale of Felix B. Maduro and other companies in this group.

The Felix B. Maduro group companies were included in the ‘Clinton List’ by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury.

The sale was made through a trust that was created after the state appointed an interministerial commission to oversee the process.

The team of defenders of Waked considers that the Panamanian State is responsible ‘jointly’ for the actions or omissions that generated the results of the sale of the group.

So far, despite formal applications, the National Bank of Panama or any other state institution has not informed Waked of the way the shares of Felix B. Maduro’s companies were sold; The amount or conditions in which the transaction was completed through the trust that is administered by the National Bank of Panama is not known either.

According to the lawyers, there are a number of legal and constitutional violations committed by state officials, and that is what they are trying to demonstrate in the appeal.

The lawyer states in the document presented that in this case, without any legal or civil case in the Panamanian territory against the companies of Waked, the Panamanian State, through the Executive and the National Bank of Panama, who appeared as ‘fiduciary’ , Proceeded with the lack of protection of the right to private property enshrined in the Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama.

All this occurred through the pressure and intimidation exercised for the transfer of the assets to third parties, under the pretext of safeguarding labor security, but overlooking legal certainty, the right to private property and lacking the guarantees and rights Fundamentals of entrepreneur Abdul Waked.

The lawsuit establishes that all this happened violating constitutional norms and putting Panamanian law, impositions and the approval of a foreign entity that has no interference in the national territory.

In view of all the facts described, lawyers insist that the State is responsible for the actions or omissions incurred by both the National Bank of Panama and the people who acted in the process of selling Felix B. Maduro and the group companies .