Government links to Murcia and alleged drug smuggling surface

Links between senior members of Panama's government and convicted Colombian fraudster  David Murcia Guzmán and  his  local partner Ernesto Chong, are alleged in WikiLeaks reports published on Friday May 6 by all major Panama newspapers.

Salomon Shamah, subject of US Embassy e mails over alleged links to drug traffickingReports, in La Prensa,  once again  put a spotlight on Tourism Manager Salomon Shamah for alleged involvement in drug smuggling and money laundering

Research conducted by the newspaper  as well as information contained in cables released  by WikiLeaks reveal a series of events that link current senior management to Murcia,

“To the names already known — Minister Alma Cortes, Jose Abel Almengor [ the recently resigned Supreme Court Judge], and prosecutor William Parodi, among others, is now added Ho Enrique Fernandez, director of the of Urban and Household (AAUD).” Says La Prensa
Ho,  in the elections of May 2009 managed the campaign finances of the President, Ricardo Martinelli.

Panama America  carried photos of  checkss totaling $380,000 to the CD (the party of change) from Chong.
“The investigation began with a report of the Prevention of Money Laundering Unit of the Principality of Andorra On May 7, 2009, four days after the elections in Panama, the bank Andbanc, SA reported a "suspicious transaction" in connection with its customers and Chong Chong De Leon. At that time, the bank knew of ‘many links’ between Chong and Murcia Guzmán, the "king of the pyramids,”
Turning to Shamah   La Prensa said :”On several occasions, the former U.S. ambassador Barbara Stephenson reported to her country that Salomon Shamah Shamah Salomon, one of the closest collaborators of President Martinelli and current manager of Tourism, had links to drug trafficking.’
Cables provided by WikiLeaks, reveal that  Shamah’s brother, Alberto piloted the plane with President Martinelli and David Murcia on board. “After the Murcia scandal broke Murcia”  says the former ambassador, “all records of this flight disappeared."
According to the report, the same DEA source said  that Abel Almengor  knew of the  flight while investigating Murcia, but suppressed the information. 
“Shamah was targeted by U.S. since the first moment he took office”  says La Prensa.

“Stephenson,  in  a cable dated July 9, 2009, said  the new director of the ATP may be linked to drug trafficking , according to reports from the DEA. The cable, which was titled ‘First Impressions of a rebel government,’ said Shamah was also a person close to  Jimmy Papadimitriu.
“In another cable of December 29, 2009, in which the former ambassador had serious questions about the Panamanian judicial system, said  that the head of the Tourism portfolio "has connections with known drug traffickers."
Shamah did not return multiple calls made by La Prensa, and was was reported to be abroad.

In previous published reports, when questioned about the allegations  newspaper Shamah said  he did know on what basis the U.S. Ambassador "suspected  him of links with drug traffickers."
 At that time he  showed certificatesfrom the Attorney General’s Office, the prosecutor specializing in Drug-Related Crimes, the Special Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime and Interpol , saying there were no pending reports of him being sought for alleged links to drug trafficking activities.
Shamah, a Colombian by birth isconsidered one of the key chips in Martinelli's political campaign to reach the Presidential Palace , and is a member of the Cabiinet says the report.

There is  controversy, says La Prensa over whether he would  have been allowed to step on to U.S. soil when he tried to accompany Martinelli, along with other ministers on the visit to meet with U.S. president, Barack Obama.
“It reveals that the signals of former Ambassador Stephenson, connecting him to drug trafficking, have been the cause of the refusal to let him enter that country,” says the newspaper
“Why didn’t the man responsible for promoting the country abroad, whose name was on the entourage that would accompany Martinelli to meet with Obama is the question that the public is asking  these days, so much so that the U.S. television network Univision addressed the issue broadly, suggesting that Shamah is  on a list of people who are not allowed to enter the U.S. because of  their links with drug trafficking.
Alvaro German,  a government spokseman, said the Tourism manager  had been included in the list with the names of the party by mistake as he [Shamah] never said he would attend.