Casino Paper Trail leads to Perez Balladares

Casino Paper Trail leads to Pérez Balladares

story by La Prensa English News

Ernesto Pérez Balladares (left) and Roosevelt Thayer, a suspected director of Lucky Games

Files released to this newspaper by means of the Transparency Law continue to yield further evidence that former President Ernesto Pérez Balladares has benefited from granting gaming company Lucky Games a direct concession to operate casinos and slot machine halls, a deal made during his term as president between 1994 and 1999.

In fact, records show that Shelf Holdings, a company linked to Pérez Balladares, received a sum of $282,000 from then president of Lucky Games, Carlos González.

But despite appearing on the books as the sole shareholder of Lucky Games, González is a total unknown in the gaming industry. Three owners of businesses in the industry who spoke on condition of anonymity all indicated that they had never met the elusive González in his decade as supposed CEO of Lucky Games.

Records also indicate that a second newcomer to the industry, Samuel Valdéz, who succeeded González as CEO in 2007, regularly deposited large sums of money in accounts belonging to Shelf Holdings.

Shelf Holding Inc. was registered at the Public Registry on June 26, 2003. The company's board includes one of the partners of the legal firm Infante & Pérez Almillano, Hector Infante, who is also Pérez Balladares' atttorney.

Since its creation, Shelf Holding has moved some $8 million through the banking system in strictly checks and cash, occasionally transferring sums of up to $1.7 million at a time from Ministry of Housing Bank (Banvivienda). On another occasion, Lucky Games deposited funds into Shelf Holding's separate account at the First American Bank (now HSBC).

The paper trail created by the series of transactions within the Pérez Balladares' company indicates that yet another figure played a role in delivering the money to the former head-of-state. Ricardo Alberto Caputo, the Argentinian intimate of Pérez Balladares, in fact, still manages the financial affairs of the erstwhile president and his wife' financial affairs both at home and abroad.

That confidence comes at a price. In the five years that Pérez Balladares held office, Caputo received $210,445 in discretionary funds from the Presidency. In total, according to the Transparency Department of the Ombudsman, he was paid in 75 checks, most of them described in the books as "unforeseen costs of special services of the President" or "unforeseen expenses for the cost of travel on official business."

In addition to those payments, the Argentinian confidant also had access to $55,000 transferred to his account at the National Bank by the Ministry of the Presidency in 1998.

Pérez Balladares also helped Caputo realize his dream of home ownership in Panama. According to the Public Registry, the Regional Interoceanic Authority sold Caputo an 825-square meter lot in Diablo Heights for $43,000. The land included a 159-square meter home.

The sale took place under the Nicolás Ardito Barletta's term as director of the authority just days after Pérez Balladares left office.

Shelf Holding was not the only company linked to the former president that received money from Lucky Games. Bank records reveal that portions of the casino operator's gambling profits wound up in accounts in the name of Pty Adventures Inc., which in turn forwarded that money to Shelf Holding accounts.

Pty Adventures, incorporated on May 20, 2002, also counts among its directors members of Infante & Pérez Almillano, one of whose partners is Humberto Iglesias, son of Pérez Balladares.