It is an open secret in Panama that most of the sitting ministers from the outgoing Martinelli government have had their visas to enter the United States revoked. Some have been engaged in money laundering, some in narcotics trafficking, but most have lost the privilege of visiting the US due to well-documented cases of corruption, namely, that they have accepted bribes and kickbacks. US law enforcement agencies have been investigating these corrupt officials for years, and they have a boatload of proof.
While the United States does not publicly confirm that a specific individual has lost his or her US visa, reliable sources in Panama state that no less than eleven ministers have been so sanctioned. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Canada, where all those government ministers with revoked US visas are allowed free entry. They are known to be conducting their affairs with financial institutions located in Canada, notwithstanding the PEP status, and their well known allegations of criminal conduct. I have previously* warned readers of this blog about the strong possibility that corrupt outgoing Panamanian officials may be hurriedly visiting their bank to draw out illicit wealth.
One wonders why, notwithstanding the American actions to exclude these individuals are undesirable, the RCMP, CISC and CSIS have not urged the Canadian Government to take similar action. A lot of the information is available from open sources. Perhaps someone in Ottawa will read this article and act forthwith, lest they be saddled with some of these soon to be ex-ministers, who could move to Toronto to live, and present a very sticky immigration problem.
__________________________________________________________________________
*Are you Banking any Corrupt Panamanian PEPs ?(May 6, 2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.