Operation PTY dismantled government employees drug network

At least seven public limited companies were allegedly used as a front by the network that was dismantled on Wednesday with Operation PTY. With the companies, the group to which Ezequiel Alarcón, alias Zequi, belonged, acquired properties in El Valle de Antón and luxury apartments most of the 11 detainees in Operation PTY acted as frontmen to hide money related to drug trafficking and gang activities.

According to the prosecution, this is the case of Yaribeth Medrano, who allegedly received money from Zequi and Jorge Zurita, alleged leaders of the criminal network. She would have lent her name to buy an apartment at PH Costa Esmeralda, in the San Carlos district, valued at $400,000.

The same participation was attributed to Giancarlo Medrano, who, according to the prosecution, would also have helped with the receipt of illegitimate money for the purchase of the apartment.

The same is attributed to Francisco Rodríguez, one of those who would have received money from Alarcón’s illegal activities to acquire a farm in the Capirita sector, in Valle de Antón, valued at $70,000.

While in the case of the public accountant Margarita García, the prosecution details that she allowed money laundering through the management of accounts of several companies linked to this process. In the hearing this Friday it came to light that García is an official of the Ministry of Education.

Activist for the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Caridad Hurtado Almengor, known as Caridad Kanelón, is also identified as a frontman. According to the prosecution, she would have received money from Jorge A. Zurita, through the Mujeres Bellas Society. According to the investigation, part of that money was used to purchase a farm valued at $99,000, in Pedregal, and to pay for pleasure trips. During the hearing, prosecutor Díaz argued that the financial activity supported by the investigation was not compatible with her economic reality.

The facades of Zequi and his group to launder money: beach houses, aesthetics, pig farming, and taxis, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Caridad Hurtado, known as Caridad Kanelón, is a friend of PRD deputies in San Miguelito, high-ranking figures in the government of Laurentino Cortizo, and members of the party’s leadership. In fact, she has been part of the youth front and other internal instances of the PRD. Photos of Hurtado with the deputy of San Miguelito, Raúl Pineda, and with the Vice Minister of Commerce, Omar Montilla, among others, circulate on social networks; she  is also known in local entertainment for being the promoter of “All Inclusive”, a package that offered plastic surgeries, tickets, and stays in Colombia to Panamanian clients.

Pig farming

Activities of an alleged figurehead are also attributed to Asher Melamed, a Veraguan dedicated to pig farming and other agricultural activities, through a company in Santiago de Veraguas, who would have received money from drug-related crimes.

As for Yazmín Almengor, for the prosecution, she is another figurehead who received money from Zurita, funds that were channeled through a cevichería and a store called Bisutería Yazmín. Almengor is an official of the Mateo Iturralde Community Board, in San Miguelito, as she herself revealed at the hearing.

The prosecution holds Aylín Ortega and Josefa Almengor responsible for allegedly having served as frontmen to hide money from the criminal network. In the case of the first, the prosecution alleges that he received money to buy a farm in Punta Prieta, Coronado, and in the case of the second, that she used the ill-gotten money to buy second-hand cars and build a fleet of taxis.  Ortega is an official of the Panamanian Institute of Sports (Pandeporte), as it came to light in the hearing this Friday.