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Martinelli comes down hard on Pérez Balladares
Story by La Prensa
Former president Pérez Balladares has refused to comment on the investigation into his supposed ties to gaming companies.
President Ricardo Martinelli didn't mince words Monday when commenting on the unsavory links discovered between a gaming company and former president Ernesto Pérez Balladares.
"It's not right that casino operators are given licenses by government to steal the people's money," said Martinelli, who announced last week that he would cancel the direct concessions granted to certain gaming companies during the Pérez Balladares' term (1994-1999).
The current Panamanian leader referred to the controversy surrounding the former president at a speech at the inauguration of the "My First Job" program.
Pérez Balladares has received large sums of money from casino operator Lucky Games, which his administration offered a free concession to manage nine slot machine halls across the country.
Shareholders of that company include the former president's son-in-law, Enrique Pretelt, and Roosevelt Thayer, a close friend and erstwhile official during his time in office. Neither of them came forward with an explanation as to how funds of from the company wound up in accounts belonging to the one-time head-of-state.
The Public Ministry has opened an inquiry into the case, and has requested documents attained by La Prensa, which reported the scandal last week.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Alberto Vallarino, said Monday that he had asked the Department of Revenue to launch an investigation into the destination of dividends paid to shareholders of Lucky Games.
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