167-year-old newspaper faces US sanctions

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Gulf Today

167-year-old newspaper faces US sanctions
June 15, 2016

Panama City: A 167-year-old newspaper in Panama that existed even before the country became independent is faced with extinction because its main shareholder has been hit with US sanctions for allegedly laundering drug money.

The daily, La Estrella de Panama, and a sister newspaper, El Siglo, are in “real danger of closing,” the head of its publishing company, Eduardo Quiros, told foreign correspondents on Monday.

Both titles are published by Gese, which is part of a business empire owned by Abdul Waked, a Panamanian who also holds Lebanese and Colombian nationalities.

Waked, 66, and a relative, Nidal Ahmed Waked Hatum, 36, were on May 5 designated by the US as major money-launderers for big drug cartels. Waked Hatum was arrested in Colombia.


Read more: http://gulftoday.ae/portal/3f3811a5-3692-4fbd-8bfb-f20c4c45aeab.aspx

[geek tragedy]

1. the paper isn't being targeted, its crooked owner is nt

[phazed0]

2. Seems like an obvious attempt to silence "alternative" news, to me. Can't have that! nt

[EX500rider]

4. Yes nothing scares the US more then a local spanish paper in Panama...lol

[phazed0]

5. You don't apply sanctions to something that you don't find affects anything, do you? nt

[EX500rider]

6. Maybe it has more to do with the owners being major money-launderers for big drug cartels?

like it says in the article?

[phazed0]

7. They don't go after anyone else for money-laundering...

Big banks, CIA, DEA, Afghanistan, China, Saudi Arabia... it's rampant.

Then, in the article it says a "the main board member", Waked Hatum, was arrested in Colombia. So, we're sanctioning the newspaper in Cuba because... ?

Notice how Mossack Fonseca continues to do business as usual:

The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities.[1] The leaked documents were created by Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca;[2] some date back to the 1970s.[3]

The leaked documents illustrate how wealthy individuals, including public officials, are able to keep personal financial information private.[4] While offshore business entities are often not illegal, reporters found that some of the Mossack Fonseca shell corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, kleptocracy, tax evasion, and evading international sanctions.[5]

Newspaper? Of course! We can't have the spy agencies (including the CIA) hurting from the loss of Mossack Fonseca.
Panama Papers: Spy agencies widely used Mossack Fonseca to hide activities

Something more is at work beyond this cover story, me thinks.

[EX500rider]

8. "They don't go after anyone else for money-laundering" Really?

So this is the only drug money laundering case ever?

Suggest you start reading here:

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=drug+money+laundering+indictment

Lots of banks there

[phazed0]

9. No, but obviously we're speaking of an upper-echelon and not small fry stuff

Which is my point. Go ahead and pick me out a Newspaper that has Government sanctions placed on it like a multinational bank or a Country would.

[EX500rider]

10. They sanctions were against the owners for the laundering

The US Treasury Department even gave a special licence “intended to allow both Panamanian newspapers to continue printing and operating by authorising specific activities that would otherwise be prohibited”

[GreydeeThos]

3. There is also a Panama City in Florida

I think the article is about Panama City, Panama.