Movie premiere will highlight Panama shady image
By Margot Thomas
Panama could see its already shady financial image, further tarnished with the Sunday, September 1 premiere of The Laundromat, a biographical reprise of the money laundering activities of the now-dead Mossack Fonseca law firm, one of whose principals was an adviser to former president Juan Carlos Varela. While the other sat on a government committee.
The exposure of the company’ files by investigative journalists revealing how they hid billions of dollars from tax inspectors for criminals.businessmen, entertainment, and sports stars, even politicians sent a tsunami through world financial centers and led to panic-stricken reactions in Panama, including the setting up of an investigation team including a Nobel prizewinner and a prominent Swiss lawmaker. Both walked away after what they saw as hamstrung by the government. The scandal became known as The Panama Paper
The Netflix film, called for Latin America “La Lavandería”, is directed by Steven Soderbergh, with a screenplay by Scott Z. Burns. It stars Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, Matthias Schoenaerts, James Cromwell and Sharon Stone. With that star-studded base look out for Oscar nominations.
It will be released to movie theaters on September 27 before digital streaming on Netflix on October 10.
“ The giant of the streaming platform shows the Panama Papers scandal and the investigation that uncovered this case of tax fraud worldwide, which could impact the interest of foreign investments in the country. Panama is already on the gray list. If the government and society do not make the corresponding adjustments to our legislation, if they do not strengthen the justice system, if they do not make the adjustments, they can scare away the investments ”, warns lawyer, Ernesto Cedeño.
