MONEY LAUNDERING REPORTS SENT TO PANAMANIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT WERE RELAYED TO FINANCIAL CRIMINALS WHO WERE THE SUBJECT OF THE REPORTS

For those individuals who are always wondering why nobody ever gets charged with money laundering in the Republic of Panama, notwithstanding that the country is a hornets' nest of narco-cash, the proceeds of Venezuelan government officials' corruption, criminal profits of sanctioned Middle Eastern terrorist organizations, and garden-variety tax evasion, the answer is simple; all the reports submitted of local law enforcement, whether by whistleblowers, American law enforcement agencies, or foreign businessmen, are all, upon arrival, forwarded to the criminal syndicate leaders, who then pay a sizable bribe to the government official, for his trouble.

Thereafter, things get ugly, if the reporter or informant is a civilian; he or she may find themselves shortly the target of a drive-by assassination, and they are executed, while enjoying a drink at an outdoor cafe. Others might subsequently receive death threats, and wisely exit the country forthwith. in Any event, witnesses will not be available to corroborate the information about money laundering activity, and the result is that the investigation is closed, almost as fast as it can be opened.

In truth and in fact, the only investigation that is opened, and stays open, is an improper investigation into the whistleblower or informant himself, conducted by the Organized Crime Division, of the Attorney General's Office, to intimidate the whistleblower. We have previously detailed the incestuous arrangement, which existed, for years, between the criminal syndicates, and the then-chief of the Division José Ayú Prado, who took the incriminating information to such groups as the Waked organization, and other of the country's organized crime families, many of whom are ethnically of Middle Eastern origin, (especially Syria), and was paid handsomely for his betrayal of the oath to seek justice, that he swore, when he became the chief of the Organized Crime Division.