Cabinet and prosecutor move on land grab scandal
Panama’s widening land grab scandal came before an Extraordinary Cabinet session on Wednesday and the Minister of Finance, Alberto Vallarino, was authorized to investigate hidden activities.
He is to determine the moves, and who was behind them, that led to to the Director of the National Land Qualifications Authority Anabelle Villamonte giving away for free, a stretch of prime Paitilla real estate, intended for use as a park.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Jose Ayú Prado said that an investigation of a possible crime against the public administration has already started.
The acquisition of the strip of land, providing across the Bay of Panama a view of the presidential palace was a move that President Ricardo Martinelli originally said had been done hundreds of thousands of times before.
The cabinet decision came a day after the government announced it would use Law 57 of 1946 on expropriation, which led to friction between members of the government alliance and raised widespread criticism from lawyers.
The Cabinet said that the measure seeks to recover the state land, then to "comply with the procedure established by the Internal Revenue Code."
Paragraph 2 of Article 80 of the Code, includes the "hidden assets … lands which have been granted improperly …"
