"Panama nightmare" From COTA Member, before you decide to do business in Panama, must read!

Date:	Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:02:40 -0700 [02/14/2009 01:02:40 PM EST]
From:	Gil Cisneros
Subject:	"Panama nightmare" From Bill Tolbert, COTA Member, before you decide to do business in Panama, must read!

For further information please contact Bill at:

mailto:billt%20@meneren.com

Gil: Following is the issue in more detail along with key articles and web links. Grand Panama International, a member of the Chamber of the Americas is asking for your personal action on this matter as it greatly scars the Panama market for US Citizens and businessmen.

To help you understand the level and kind of abuse currently being endured by US Citizens and American business interests in Panama, and related damage to Panamanian charities formed to meet the pressing needs of the children of Panama, I ask that you read a series of articles in US media outlets such as Time Magazine, The New York Times, LA Times, and others. The attempt to steal the large estate of Wilson Lucom, a former assistant to the US Secretary of State, has been well covered in various US media outlets. The first of these is in Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1680177,00.html The second of these is in the International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/24/america/panama.php The third can be found in the Los Angeles Times: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2008/06/millionaire-lea.html

To understand how a wealthy Panamanian family and their corrupt attorney have abused the legal system in Panama, including the bribery of various officials, you can see the detailed account entitled “Report to the Attorney General of Panama” which can be found at: http://www.lucom-ninospobresdepanama.com/LUCOM_english.html

It is important to note that in November 2008 the head of the Panama Governments National Council of Transparency for Corruption, Alma Montenegro de Fletcher, published a finding that found “extreme abuse of the Panamanian civil and penal system”, noting the false arrest of a US Citizen who was defending the interests of the children of Panama, Mr. Richard Lehman, a Florida attorney and long time friend and lawyer for Wilson Lucom. The details of Alma’s letter to the Panama Supreme Court can be found at the following (translated) website:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.setransparencia.gob.pa/noticias/noticia_nota_caso_wilson_lucom.htm&ei=kcWVSdqUIoHasAPA1ei4Bw&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=5&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522alma%2Bmontenegro%2522%2Blucom%26hl%3Den

In order to understand the critical and dangerous nature of the ongoing corruption, one needs to read how the organizer of a march on the Panama Supreme Court building organized by Mr. Lehman on behalf of the children of Panama was shot within days of the march. See: http://panamaexpatriates.blogspot.com/2008/06/interview-with-hector-avila-june-18.html

Fast forward to February 2009, Mr. Lucom’s Florida attorney, Richard Lehman, the US Citizen and trusted friend and attorney of Wilson Lucom, flies into Panama to meet with the Panamanian charities organized to accept the bequeath of Wilson Lucom on behalf of the poor and orphaned children. When he tries to depart Panama City to return to the US, Mr. Lehman is removed from the US plane, and placed under false arrest at the airport, waiting 16 hours for the “problem with immigration” to be clarified. Then it turns out that the head of Immigration finds there is no cause, yet a week later Mr. Lehman still cannot leave Panama because the airport authorities keep changing the basis for the detention and the Judge that can verify that there are no legal arrest warrants will either not meet with Mr. Lehman or provide him the necessary releases.

If you found yourself under arrest at a foreign airport, you would immediately call the US Embassy—right? So did Richard. Unfortunately, no one at the Embassy would answer the after-hours “Emergency” number (which is always answered at any Embassy, by the Marine guard if necessary) and when the phone is finally answered at 8am the next Monday, the operator indicates she does not have any idea how to help and will find the “Officer of the Day”. When the OD comes on line, they inform Mr. Lehman that they “don’t have any idea how to help him”. (The proper response is always, I do not know how to handle this but I will find out. How can I get right back to you)? The Embassy staff later claims that it is “judicial matter”, and they cannot help…even though Lehman’s Florida Congressman had sent the US Ambassador personal letter months ago fearing for the safety of Mr. Lehman. When others complain on Mr. Lehman’s behalf, they are told that Mr. Lehman is staying at a hotel as if that was good enough.

What were the US Government excuses for not acting immediately in defense of this US Citizen?

First, it is that the individual at the center of the Probate dispute, Wilson Lucom, “was not a US Citizen” as he had given up his US Citizenship when he move to Panama. So what!!! Richard Lehman is a US Citizen. Wilson Lucom’s only legally adopted child, Isabel Clark is the first in line to inherit her father’s estate under Panamanian law. She is a US Citizen living in California, and she can’t get the Courts to recognize her rights, nor can she get the State Department to act in defense of Mr. Lehman.

The US investors that purchased the largest asset in the Lucom estate, a 7,000+ acre waterfront ranch on the Pacific Coast of Panama, are US Citizens and the Panamanian courts are ignoring their legal claims and positioned their suit under a Judge who has at least twice before been censured for corruption. So much for the “equal access under the law” rights of US Citizens and US business interests in Panama. They are being abused by the corrupt legal system in Panama—confirmed by their own Transparency Commission—and the Embassy responds that they can’t get involved because “Wilson Lucom was not a US Citizen”. How ridiculous!

The next excuse is that “there are Probate disputes in the US as well”. My heavens, how does that apply to this? In the US, those Probate disputes have not been characterized by the US government itself as corrupt and an “extreme abuse” of the US civil and penal system!

The next excuse is that “the US cannot get involved in a civil proceeding” and that Panama has “an independent judiciary”. That’s strange, the outgoing US Ambassador was on the record numbers of time about the corruption of the Panama legal system. And you have the Panamanian Governments own Ms. Montengero confirming it!

What is going on? Perhaps it has to do with having a new American Ambassador in Panama who does not want to take a firm stand early on with the Panamanian Government.

Perhaps it has to do with the State Department not wanting to take any action that would endanger the US-Panama free trade pact that is currently before the Congress…which action this type of corruption and legal system abuse should call into question.

Perhaps it is just the terrible twins of ignorance and complete incompetence of behalf of the new Ambassador and her staff.

What is certain is that the “story line” being propagated by the US State Department Panama Desk and the US Embassy in Panama do not comport with the well documented history and clear facts in this heinous situation.

What is clear is that US Citizens and US business interests are being consistently abused by a corrupt Panamanian legal system and that US Citizen civil rights are being ignored by Panamanian authorities with impunity, while the US Embassy looks on washing its hands of any meaningful involvement (“Pilatos” in Spanish).

What is clear is that a well established Panamanian oligarchy can manipulate a corrupt legal system and culture and steal the lifelong estate of a former US Citizen, and from the orphans of Panama and other US interests, to keep their station in life – all as if the Noriega regime was still in power.

What naturally follows such blatant abuse is that every US Citizen and US businessman must worry about who will protect their investments and estates in Panama if the Panamanian legal system can be so completely corrupted and the US Government so clearly unwilling to act to protect US Citizens and businessmen.

What is clear is that every American citizens and businessmen who do not want this to happen to them, must take immediate action to get the US Government actively involved in protecting the rights of US Citizens and US business interests in Panama—and do it now!

I ask your support in contacting all Colorado Congressional and Senate staff to inform them of these recent dangerous events and prompt them to demand proper answers from the State Department and the US Embassy, Panama, of why they are not actively involved in protecting this US Citizen and others, along with other US business interests in Panama.

I also urge you, on behalf of the Chamber, to call/write the US Ambassador in Panama, Barbara Stephenson, 011-507-207-7000, general email: panamaweb@state.gov to find out why Mr. Lehman did not receive immediate and meaningful support and intervention in what is a very public corruption case documented as so by the head of the Panamanian Commission on Transparency and Corruption herself.

I also urge you to call the State Departments Panama Desk Officer, Marcia Singer, 202-647-3505, singerml@state.gov , and add your rejection of their simple minded excuses for inaction as well.

Gil, this is a serious matter that will damage Panama as well as those who have or will invest in Panama.

Regards—Bill

William A. Tolbert

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La Estrella de Panamá - The Panama Star
Florida Attorney detained 15 hours at Tocumen airport - [ Translate this page ]
Lehman 5 days prisoner - [ Translate this page ]
The Lucom legacy
Las Uvas: Fever in the coast

La Voz Nueva
Legal case clouding Panama/U.S. commerce

Youtube video
100 acres of beachfront are misappropiated

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Allied charities join Lucom fight

The Sisters of Mercy, the SOS villages, the San Jose de Malambo Orphanage, Nutrehogar, the Ciudad de Niño and the Fundacion Pro Niños de Darien have joined together to form the Fundacion de Apoyo a los Niños Pobres de Panama. This was done in anticipation that Hilda Piza (viuda de Lucom, and before that de Arias) and her children will lose their challenge to the Wilson Lucom will, which is now pending in the Supreme Court. Lucom, a very wealthy man, left millions to his widow but the large residue of his estate to the poor children of Panama. Piza and especially her children by a previous marriage --- most notably Gilberto Arias of EPASA, the company that owns La Critica and El Panama America --- have challenged the will and, largely through attorney Héctor Infante, have fought vicious legal battles in Panama and the United States. These have concentrated on Richard Lehman, the Florida attorney appointed by Lucom as his will's executor, against whom bogus murder charges were brought, groundless arrest warrants were issued and an arrest order on a warrant that didn't exist was put into INTERPOL's international database. The case has become an emblem of corruption with impunity in the Panamanian legal system. The Supreme Court recently slapped down a detention order that Infante obtained against Lehman and the contest on the will itself is now pending before the court. The creation of the charitable alliance distances Lehman from the controversy, as the Piza / Arias family is basing their challenge on the supposition that he's a crook who's out to loot the fortune. Now it would be the charities rather than Lehman in charge of how the bequest is spent. Sister Lourdes Reiss of the San Jose de Malambo Orphanage heads the new foundation and has expressed confidence to the competitors of the Arias family's newspapers that the Lucom bequest will be upheld in court.

Volume 15, Number 1 January 22, 2009
Full text in http://www.thepanama/ news.com/pn/v_15/issue_01/economy_briefs.html

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The charity is called FUNDACION DE APOYO A LOS NIÑOS POBRES DE PANAMA. Its Foundation Council is formed by:

Orfelinato San Jose de Malambo http://malambo.org/
Asociacion Religiosos Mercedarios http://www.un.org/other/unwg/projects/panama.html
Fundacion Pro-Niños del Darien http://www.darien.org.pa/
Asociacion de Aldeas Infantiles SOS de Panama http://www.aldeasinfantiles-sos.org
Asociacion Nacional Pro Nutricion Infantil http://www.nutrehogar.org
Patronato de la Ciudad del Niño http://www.ciudaddelnino.org/

Las Uvas: Fever in the coast

The following is draft a translation in Tropiland of an article appearing in La Estrella.



La Estrella, December 15, 2008

12-15-2008 RICHARD M. KOSTER
mailto:periodistas@laestrella.com.pa

On the beach of Coclé, where the Anton river comes meets the ocean, the waters of the river mouth have created a long lagoon and a peninsula that throws itself on the west ,parallel to the coast. They call it Las Uvas. It is possible to access it ,during low tide, via the beach from Juan Hombrón, but otherwise, it is not accessible by land.
Since it has neither drinking water nor irrigation and agricultural potential, it had no value until the fever of the tourist development came to the area of Farallón. In the summer of 2007, a person called Sonia Álvarez offered to buy possessory rights in Las Uvas for $ 3.00 per square meter. Immediately, she found local fishermen caliming that they had Rights Of Possession over the land.
In June, 2007 Álvarez, Roberto Homsany , Alberto Sudarsky and Henry Lebowitz, requested to buy 31.6 hectares of the peninsula to the State making a formal, written request (as per protocol) at the Department of Economy and Finance . Their request mentioned as motive “a project of " country-style villa ecotourism project” and it was accompanied by 32 “contracts of sale of the Rights of Possession of the resident inhabitants of the area” and “an agreement signed by the holders of these property Rights of Possession, who have been inhabiting them for 39 years”.
When La Estrella visited the peninsula, on November 13, it was desert. Seagulls were patrolling the smooth sea. The only human element was a rancho of four posts with tin roof bent from the breeze. To imagine 32 supposed inhabitants needed a poet's imagination.
Having road access to the property is a requisite so that Cadaster grants title by means of Rights of Possession. Be that as it may, the purchase request included a letter of the mayor of Anton, Roger Ríos, who was requesting from Hacienda Santa Mónica “a road servitude (right of pass) to lead to the peninsula of Las Uvas”.
Hacienda Santa Mónica is one of the most beautiful properties of Central America - approximately 3,000 hectares that spread from the Inter-American highway down to the ocean. It was created by combining land from five farms by president Harmodio Arias Madrid. In it he developed rice and bred cattle . He then turned it over to his son Gilberto Arias Guardia, and then to his grandchildren. They sold it to the second mother's second husband , Wilson Lucom. Lucom paid the mortgages and set the farm to produce, but in 2005 he sold it so that it was the site of the first “Branded City” of Latin America.
"Branded Cities" are communities designed to serve simultaneously as esidential, commercial and recreational. The most out-standing example is Palm Island of the United Arab Emirates. The project, which will be called Grand Panama and which will cost $3 billion, will feature a five -star hotel, a marina, four golf courses, 9,700 residences, and a 400,000 square meters of shopping center.
It will generate 10,000 jobs during the phase of construction and 5,000 permanent jobs. It will give incalculable profits to the region and the country.

Lucom accepted a first payment of half a million dollars, but he died in June, 2006 before finishing the buying and selling. In his testament he left an apartment of $ 1 million and a million dollar anuity to his widow, but he directed the buldge of his assets to a foundation dedicated to to feeding children in need in Panama. The widow has urged to annul the testament, and Santa Monica, the principal part of the executrix, has remained tangled in the succession dispute, under the administration of lawyer Marta Cañola, named by the Judge of the Fifth Circuit.
When Grand Panama International paid half a million to buy Santa Monica, they hired Meneren Corporation of Denver USA, to develop and administer the project. Meneren must wait for the conclusion of the judgment of succession to complete the buying and selling with the winner,of the case and has remained alert to the real property swaying in Panama. On May 11 of the present year Meneren inspector, Steve Guthrie, received an e-mail of a broker in Panama offering him area in the beach close to Juan Hombrón. On having investigated, Guthrie discovered that Las Uvas were being marketed even though they and the peninsula were part of the "Branded City" property.
“They were trying to sell to us land that our bosses already were ready to buy!”, he said to La Estrella. “With the down payment of half a million dollars, he lagoon is where we think to put the marina, and without these kilometers of beach the property does not serve for the project”.
Aurelio Andrión, until March of this year regional Cadaster chief in Coclé, confirmed what Guthrie said. “There is no case of "purchasing from the State in that place”, he said to La Estrella. “The peninsula of Las Uvas belongs to finca number 7022, which is part of Hacienda Santa Mónica ”.The Public Register confirms Andrión . It establishes that the south boundary of finca 7022 is “the Pacific Ocean”.
Mayor Ríos said to La Estrella that Sonia Álvarez had asked for the letter in which Hacienda Santa Mónica requested right of way from the Treasury Department. He wrote it to help the fishermen, who are his constituents. He delivered it to Álvarez and not to lawyer Cañola.
According to the said lawyer, the grounds in the peninsula of Las Uvas “are not state but a private property that finca 7022 is part of and Rights of Possession do not exist on private property”.
Sonia Álvarez, Alberto Sudarsky, Roberto Homsany, and Henry Lebowitz have not come on record as of yet. On November 8 there was a meeting of the fishermen who had sold their "Rights of Possession to Sonia Álvarez. They were angry. They were selling in $ 3.00 per square meter, but they received only 8 %. The rest would come when the investors were receive title of the area which, from the looks of it, is far,far away.

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Feb. 17, 2009: The Spanish online version of La Prensa has been truncated (censored?) with a disclaimer "Look for the full version in page 2A of our printed version." Thanks to Google cache, we are able to share the full version with our Spanish-reading users.

LAS UVAS DE COCLÉ
Fiebre en la costa
12-15-2008 RICHARD M. KOSTER
periodistas@ laestrella.com.pa
El desarrollo turístico ataca al país desde múltiples frentes y en toda guerra la primera baja es la verdad
Portada PANAMÁ. En la costa de Coclé, donde el río Antón llega al mar, las aguas de la desembocadura han creado una laguna larga y una península que se tira al oeste paralela a la costa. La llaman Las Uvas. A marea baja se puede llegar allí por la playa desde Juan Hombrón, pero de otra manera no es accesible por tierra.
Como no tiene ni agua potable ni fertilidad, no tuvo valor hasta que la fiebre del desarrollo turístico llegara a Farallón. En el verano del 2007, una persona llamada Sonia Álvarez ofreció comprar derechos posesorios en Las Uvas a $3.00 el metro cuadrado. De una vez encontró pescadores dispuestos a sostener que los tenían.
En junio de 2007 Álvarez, Alberto Sudarsky, Roberto Homsany, y Henry Lebowitz, solicitaron al Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas comprar los 31.6 hectáreas de la península a la Nación. Su solicitud mencionó como motivo “un proyecto de villas campestres ecoturísticas” y fue acompañada por 32 “contratos de compraventa de los derechos posesorios de los moradores residentes del área” y “un acuerdo firmado por los poseedores de estas tierras, los cuales las habitan desde hace 39 años”.
Cuando La Estrella visitó la península, al mediodía del 13 de noviembre, era desierta. Patos cuervos patrullaban un mar liso. El único rastro humano era un rancho de cuatro postes con techo de zinc agachado debajo de la llovizna. Imaginar a los 32 supuestos moradores nos hubiera requerido grandes dotes de poeta.
Acceso vial es un requisito para que Catastro otorgue título a base de derechos posesorios. Así es que la solicitud incluía una carta del alcalde de Antón, Roger Ríos, quien solicitaba a Hacienda Santa Mónica “servidumbre vial para dar acceso a la península”.
Hacienda Santa Mónica es una de las propiedades más bellas de Centroamérica —unas 3,000 hectáreas que se extienden de la carretera Interamericana hasta el mar. Fue creada de cinco fincas por el presidente Harmodio Arias Madrid. Allí sembró arroz y crió ganado. Esta la pasó a su hijo Gilberto Arias Guardia, y luego a los hijos de él. Ellos la vendieron al segundo marido de su madre, Wilson Lucom. Lucom pagó las hipotecas y puso la finca a producir, pero en 2005 trató de venderla para que fuera el sitio de la primera “ciudad marca” de América Latina.
Las ciudades marca son comunidades diseñadas a la vez residenciales, comerciales y recreativas. El ejemplo más destacado es Isla Palma los Emiratos Unidos Árabes.
El proyecto, que se llamará Gran Panamá y que valdrá 3 mil millones, contempla un hotel de cinco estrellas, una marina, cuatro canchas de golf, 9,700 residencias, y un centro comercial de 400,000 metros cuadrados.
Generará 10,000 empleos durante la fase de construcción y 5,000 empleos permanentes. Dará beneficios incalculables a la región y el país.
Lucom aceptó un pago inicial de medio millón de dólares, pero murió en junio de 2006 antes de finalizar la compraventa. En su testamento dejó un apartamento de $1 millón y un cuarto de un millón anual a su viuda, pero destinó el grueso de sus bienes a una fundación cuyo propósito es alimentar niños con necesidades en Panamá. La viuda ha instado anular el testamento, y Santa Mónica, la principal parte de la testamentaria, ha quedado enmarañada en la disputa de sucesión, baja administración de la licenciada Marta Cañola, nombrada por el Juez Quinto del Circuito.
Cuando Gran Panamá Internacional abonó medio millón para comprar Santa Mónica, contrató a la Meneren Corporation de Denver, EEUU, para desarrollar y administrar el proyecto. Meneren debe esperar la conclusión del juicio de sucesión para completar la compraventa con el vencedor, y ha quedado alerta a los vaivenes de bienes raíces en Panamá. El 11 de mayo del presente año su director administrativo, Steve Guthrie, recibió un e-mail de un corredor en Panamá ofreciéndole terreno en la playa cerca de Juan Hombrón. Al investigar, Guthrie descubrió que se trataba de la península Las Uvas, que él conoció como parte de la Hacienda Santa Mónica.
“¡Pretendían vendernos terreno que nuestros principales ya contrataron comprar!”, dijo a La Estrella. “Con abono de medio millón de dólares. La laguna es donde pensamos poner la marina, y sin estos kilómetros de playa la propiedad no sirve para el proyecto”.
Aurelio Andrión, hasta marzo de este año jefe regional de Catastro en Coclé, confirmó lo que dijo Guthrie. “No hay compra a la Nación en aquel lugar”, dijo a La Estrella. “La península de Las Uvas pertenece a la finca 7022, que forma parte de la Hacienda Santa Mónica”.
El Registro Público confirma el criterio de Andrión. Establece que el lindero sur de la finca 7022 es “con el Océano Pacífico”.
El alcalde Ríos dijo a La Estrella que Sonia Álvarez había pedido la carta en que solicitó servidumbre a Hacienda Santa Mónica. La escribió para ayudar a los pescadores, quienes son sus constituyentes. La entregó a Álvarez y no a la licenciada Cañola.
Según la licenciada, las tierras en la península de Las Uvas “no son estatales sino propiedad privada que forman parte de la finca 7022, y no existen derechos posesorios sobre propiedad privada”.
Sonia Álvarez y Roberto Homsany no han devuelto llamadas de La Estrella. No hemos podido localizar ni a Alberto Sudarsky ni a Henry Lebowitz. El 8 de noviembre se celebró una reunión de los pescadores quienes habían vendido sus derechos posesorios a Sonia Álvarez. Estaban enojados. Vendían en $3.00 el metro cuadrado, pero cobraron solo 8%. El resto vendría cuando los inversores recibían título del terreno. Se estima una larga espera.

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CRONOLOGÍA
En el verano del 2007, una persona llamada Sonia Álvarez ofreció comprar derechos posesorios en Las Uvas a $3.00 el metro cuadrado.
En junio de 2007 Álvarez, Alberto Sudarsky, Roberto Homsany y Henry Lebowitz, pidieron al Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas comprar los 31.6 hectáreas de la península al Estado.
La Hacienda Santa Mónica es una de las propiedades más bellas de Centroamérica, 3,000 hectáreas desde la Interamericana al mar.
El 8 de noviembre hubo una reunión de los pescadores que vendieron sus derechos posesorios a Sonia Álvarez.

Children in the San Blas Islands, Panama, doing traditional dancing. While some of Panama bustles with development, more than half of children under 5 live in poverty(Tara Todras-Whitehill for The New York Times)

A bequest for Panama's poor children - blocked by family

By Marc Lacey

Published: June 25, 2008

PANAMA CITY: In life, Wilson Lucom was not exactly child-friendly. The curmudgeon never had children himself, nor was he especially close to the offspring of his third wife, Hilda. When he opened his ample checkbook, friends say, it was more likely to finance a conservative political cause than to help underprivileged youth.

But Lucom, a native of rural Pennsylvania who spent much of his life in Palm Beach, Florida, surprised everyone in his will, which was disclosed upon his death two years ago at the age of 88. After doling out relatively small portions of his tens of millions of dollars to survivors, he left the rest to a foundation he had dreamed up in secrecy to aid the poor children of Panama, where he spent the final years of his life.

It would be one of the largest charitable donations, if not the largest, in Panama's history, but so far not a single child has had access to the money. The will has set off a vicious legal battle that is playing out in at least four countries. Criminal charges have been filed, insults traded and threats made. The number of law firms involved exceeds 20.

"This is all about greed," said Hector Avila, an advocate for at-risk children in Panama who organized a demonstration of young people in May outside the Supreme Court in Panama, calling for Lucom's gift to be honored. Within a week of the protest, Avila survived a shooting. No link to the Lucom case was established.

Lucom lived a colorful life, serving in his 20s as an aide to Edward Stettinius Jr., who was secretary of state under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the time. He repeatedly told the story of how he had spent time in Ethiopia during the rule of Haile Selassie and had been in San Francisco when the United Nations was born.

Lucom married well, amassing a fortune when his second wife, Virginia Willys, whose father had been an Ohio auto tycoon, died in 1981. A year later, Lucom met and wed Hilda Piza, who had been married previously to Gilberto Arias, son of Harmodio Arias and nephew of Arnulfo Arias, both former presidents of Panama.

Lucom eventually relocated with his new wife to Panama, selling his Palm Beach mansion in 1990 to a relative of the king of Saudi Arabia for $14.3 million.

Lucom used his money to bankroll anti-Communist groups, and he helped found the conservative watchdog group Accuracy in Media. In his later years, he frequently wrote commentaries that showed his firm opinions, some of them decidedly unconventional, on the ways of the world.

Dropping nuclear weapons was one of his preferences for making things right in the world. Catching Osama bin Laden was as simple, he argued, as putting a $1 billion bounty on his head.

In his will, he spelled out how he thought the malnutrition facing one-fifth of Panama's children could be combated. His plan was to buy seeds, supply them to parent volunteers who agreed to donate idle land and then reap the harvests for hungry children.

Whether his idea had merit may never be known. Lucom's 84-year-old widow, Hilda, is fighting to have his will thrown out. The issue is now before Panama's highest court, with legal skirmishes also playing out in Palm Beach, and the Caribbean nations of St. Kitts and Nevis and the British Virgin Islands also involved.

The controversy begins with a charitable act that may have at least partly been rooted in spite. Friends say that Lucom was not on particularly good terms with his third wife's adult children when he died, which is hinted at in the will.

In it, he granted his wife a monthly pension of $20,000 and use of his artwork, grand piano and furniture for as long as she lives. He gave her five children, descendants of the Arias family, one-time payments of $50,000 to $200,000 each. As for the 7,000-acre, or 2,800-hectare, oceanfront cattle ranch that he had bought from the Arias family, he wanted that sold, with the assets going to the poor.

In interviews, the Arias offspring do not let on that there was any clash between them and the man they alternatively refer to as "Mr. Lucom," "Chuck" or "Uncle Chuck."

But Lucom's widow is more candid. "He was a very difficult man," she said in an interview. "He wanted to be No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3."

She added, in a frail voice, "He never talked to me about poor children."

In a court deposition, Hilda Lucom went further. "He didn't like children," she declared.

The only support Wilson Lucom had given to children previously, the family said, was the $100 he would spend to buy two books of raffle tickets for a children's charity that Hilda Lucom's granddaughter, Madelaine Urrutia, helped run.

But in the will, prepared a year before his death, Lucom appeared to leave no doubt about his intentions. Panamanian courts have backed the will so far, but the issue is now before the country's Supreme Court, which critics say has shown itself susceptible to political interference in the past.

"If you ask me if I expect to win it in light of all the corruption I've seen, I don't expect to win it," said Lehman, who has been suspended by the court as the executor of the will pending a resolution of the legal case.

Lucom also willed $1 million to the Mayo Clinic, which had treated him for cancer. The clinic, in Minnesota, has hired a lawyer to ensure that it gets the money. Other amounts went to former household employees and to friends, including Christopher Ruddy, founder of NewsMax Media, which published many of Lucom's writings online. Ruddy, who owed Lucom more than $1 million at the time of his death, has hired lawyers to represent his interests.

Lawyers for the Arias family say there is more to the story than a crotchety old man using his fortune to make good with the world. They contend that the will was a scheme concocted by Lehman, the lawyer, to enrich himself.

Just days before Lucom died, on June 2, 2006, Lehman created a trust to administer the children's charity fund. He created it in St. Kitts and Nevis, a Caribbean tax haven where Lucom had gained citizenship to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

...

So far, though, the children have received nothing. While Panama's capital, coastline and Canal Zone are bustling with development, dire poverty grips much of the country's interior. Unicef estimates that more than half the country's children younger than 5 live in poverty and nearly a third in extreme poverty. Malnutrition affects about 20 percent of young children, with more than half of indigenous children underweight.

Amid the finger-pointing have been hardball tactics. Hilda Lucom's politically connected attorney, Hector Infante, has filed criminal charges against Lehman and a Panamanian colleague, accusing them of playing a role in Lucom's death and engaging in extortion, among other offenses.

One of Infante's associates even called up the Panama office of Interpol and managed to get Lehman's colleague detained while he was on a business trip. The lawyer was soon released when Interpol discovered that the charges had been dismissed.

With other charges pending, Lehman now stays out of Panama for fear he might be arrested. He has countersued the Arias family, accusing them of using the family-run newspaper, El Panama America, to libel him.

If there is a benefit to all the legal wrangling, it is that the value of Lucom's oceanfront cattle ranch has risen significantly since he died, possibly even quadrupling to $80 million. Settlement negotiations have taken place, but gotten nowhere.

As Lehman put it in a letter to Hilda Lucom seeking to make a deal, "I believe this is a pie that is so large that it can take into account everyone's feeling and rights to their entitlement to benefit from Lucom's fortune."

Full text in http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/25/america/panama.php?page=2

Legal Battles Tie Up Money Left for Poor Children in Panama

June 25, 2008

Legal Battles Tie Up Money Left for Poor Children in Panama

A gift of tens of millions of dollars to a foundation to help needy children in Panama has been tied up in disputes involving over 20 law firms, the Panamanian courts, and the donor’s surviving family, reports The New York Times. The donation — from the will of Wilson C. Lucom, who died two years ago at the age of 88 — is the bulk of his estate.

“This is all about greed,” said Hector Avila, an advocate for needy children in Panama, who survived a shooting within a week of a protest he led in May to push the court to honor Mr. Lucom’s gift.

Panamanian courts have so far expressed support for the will, but critics remain wary of potential corruption. “If you ask me if I expect to win in light of all the corruption I’ve seen, I don’t expect to win it,” said Richard S. Lehman, a longtime lawyer to Mr. Lucom who is now caught in the middle of the battle and who has been suspended by a Panamanian judge as the executor of the will.

Mr. Lucom’s widow, Hilda Lucom, 84, who received a $20,000 monthly pension and the use of his artwork and furniture, is fighting for his will to be dismissed. “He never talked to me about poor children,” said Ms. Lucom, who added in a court deposition, “He didn’t like children.”

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Wednesday June 25, 2008 Permalink

Comments

1. This case is real and happening right now — it’s so hard to believe that the last Will of anyone can be overlooked and turn into such a nightmare. We can only pray that good will prevail over evil. I say hang in there Mr. Lehman! Remember . . .doing the right thing may not always be the most popular — but I pray for your success in this case. Read the 500 page legal exhibit presented to the jury in this case. The panama corruption is obvious. http://www.lucomchildren.com

   All Americans should be watching this case.

   — Mary Daultry Jun 26, 08:54 AM #

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Debunking the myth of extraditions from Panama

Another hoax seems to be making the rounds on the Internet:

"The MLAT has no application to civil cases such as divorce, bankruptcy, civil judgments, business litigation, any sort of civil litigation, civil tax matters etc. Taxation matters of any sort are not covered by this as far as Panama is concerned. Income tax evasion is a civil (non-criminal) offense in Panama. Switzerland cooperates on income tax cases if the return is filed falsely like all income was not declared, things were omitted or so the complaining government says. Panama has no extradition treaties. Panama passes this test." (How to Compare Offshore Jurisdictions 09th November 2006)

By MLAT they refer to a 1995 Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty http://travel.state.gov/law/info/judicial/judicial_690.html which allows judicial cooperation (subpoenas, extradition, seizures, or others) in cases between Panama and the US when it involves a crime punishable with imprisonment of more than 1 year in both countries. Until Panama penalized false statements in tax returns with 2 years of imprisonment, most US tax crimes were not subject to judicial cooperation.

Panama does have extradition treaties. The Panama Foreign Ministry lists several International extradition conventions http://www.miregobpa.info/tratados.asp?cod_materia=38&codigo_tratado=2&sw=3 as well as bilateral treaties signed with several countries.

One of the treaties is with the US. They call it "Treaty providing for the extradition of criminals. Signed at Panama May 25, 1904; entered into force May 8, 1905. 34 Stat. 2851; TS 445; 10 Bevans 673."

Those that were not hiding under a rock may have seen a little guy called Noriega being flown out of Panama in a helicopter almost 20 years ago. The 1904 extradition treaty served as legal support for the action, not that any Panama government was willing to argue the point with a larger, foreign army.

Tax cases may not be subject to extradition, but being a fugitive from an active tax case prosecution is still being a fugitive in both countries. Eddie Ray Kuhn, self-proclaimed tax protester and indicted as part of the Wesley Snipes tax case, found that the hard way in November 2006, when he was arrested by Panama authorities in an El Dorado shopping mall. Not even his Pensionado Visa helped him avoid a free flight back to "bucolic Ocala" in Florida. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2006/11/02/snipes-taxes.html The legal argument for his deportation was that "false statements in his Panama pensionado application affidavit", which was a legal shortcut faster than a full extradition process under the MLAT. German George Schulze was also sent back to Germany for tax fraud.

Political momentum can have an effect, as several prosecutions of Panamanians fleeing to the US escaping Panama justice (yes, sometimes it actually exists) were being delayed by non-complaint US authorities. A report to Congress states: "The current extradition treaty between the United States and Panama was signed in 1904, and the Panamanian Constitution prohibits the extradition of Panamanian nationals. ... Despite its bar to extradition of nationals and an old treaty, Panama has continually demonstrated good faith efforts to surrender fugitives to the United States. Most of all, Panama has shown a willingness on numerous occasions to make use of legal alternatives to extradition (which are not reflected on the appended charts) in order to effect the return of non-Panamanians to the United States to face trial." http://www.state.gov/s/l/16162.htm The report also lists fugitives in Brazil and Costa Rica surrendered to the US for several crimes.

Lesson to the wise: Get professional advice and file truthful tax returns on time.

Arrestan en Panamá a religioso norteamericano buscado en EEUU por fraude http://www.radiolaprimerisima.com/noticias/5754
Detienen a pastor estadounidense por evasión de impuestos en EEUU http://www.terra.com/noticias/articulo/html/act634001.htm
Taxable Talk http://www.taxabletalk.com/posts/chain_1161120341.shtml
Extradition from Panama to the United States—Eddie Ray Kahn http://www.internationalextraditionblog.com/2006/10/extradition-from-panama-to-united_17.html
Eddie Ray Kahn From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Ray_Kahn
White Collar Crime Prof Blog http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/whitecollarcrime_blog/tax/index.html
Limitations of the Attorney-Client Privilege Under Section 7525 of the Internal Revenue Code http://www.legalinfo-panama.com/articulos/articulos_61a.htm
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Tropical probate drama tests Panama's judicial system

Friday, Nov. 02, 2007

Postcard: Panama By Tim Padgett

Enlarge Photo

Kids play and hang out during school hours in La Caseta in the barrio of Curundu in Panama City, Panama, on October 24, 2007.

Ivan Kaskinsky / WPN for TIME

These are heady days for tiny Panama. It is undertaking a massive expansion of the Panama Canal, luring billions of dollars in maritime and high-tech investment that could make it the Hong Kong of the Americas. But here's the other side: in the past few months, scores of toddlers have died of malnutrition in villages around the country. More than half of Panamanian children under 5 are at risk of suffering the same fate. That's why, say friends of Wilson (Chuck) Lucom, who died last year at 88, the eccentric U.S. millionaire left as much as $50 million in his will for poor children's charities in Panama. It's the largest private gift ever made here. The will doesn't single out which relief organizations will be recipients. But, as the director of a charity that may benefit says, it could have a "tremendous impact on our ability to save these children."
That is, if the kids ever see the money. Lucom's widow Hilda, 83, the frail matriarch of Panama's prominent Arias family (a clan that has produced two of Panama's Presidents), with the support of her children is battling to get the will declared invalid. They say the will's U.S. executor, Florida tax attorney Richard Lehman, concocted the charity donation so he could split the money with other Lucom cronies.
Read the full text in http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1680177,00.html


More on the story.. Litigios y disputas by Tomás A. Cabal
http://www.elsiglo.com/siglov2/Imprimir.php?fechaz=18-01-2007&idnews=33137

La muerte del empresario norteamericano Wilson C. Lucom ha desatado una serie de juicios y litigios sobre el destino de la enorme fortuna que dejó al momento de morir. De acuerdo a documentos aportados por los abogados de Lucom World Peace Limited (Fiduciaria de Fundación Wilson C. Lucom Trust Fund), han tenido que interponer una demanda en los tribunales de Panamá y los Estados Unidos contra la viuda del conocido empresario para asegurar que se cumpla con su testamento. De por medio están depósitos bancarios que suman millones de dólares, apartamentos, residencias y la Hacienda Santa Mónica que por muchos años fue propiedad de la familia Arias...

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EN PRO DE LA NIÑEZ. Testamento by Richard Koster
http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2007/08/01/hoy/opinion/1066397.html

... Pero vamos a hablar de algo bueno, y de alguien que apreciaba Panamá y que tenía conciencia social. Se trata del señor Wilson Lucom, un norteamericano que vino aquí hace unos 10 ó 15 años y quedó víctima del embrujo que Panamá tiene.
Lucom nació pobre y se hizo multimillonario. Se casó dos veces, pero nunca tuvo hijos. Al venir a Panamá compró la Hacienda Santa Mónica de los herederos de Gilberto Arias Guardia. Hizo amistades coclesanas y llegó a conocer rincones como Tobaré y La Pintada. Le preocupaba la falta de oportunidad para jóvenes en el campo y el juegovivo de la política criolla. Se preocupaba por Panamá. Murió el año pasado a los 88 y dejó gran parte de su fortuna, es decir, muchos millones, a "los niños con necesidades en Panamá"...


Panamanian Arias oligarchs after the Lucom millions By Julie Kay
http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2007/08/01/hoy/opinion/1066397.html

...But in the years before his death last June at age 88, Lucom embraced a new cause — helping impoverished children in Panama. His will left a big chunk of his estate, valued at $30 million to $50 million, to charities that help abandoned children and children with AIDS.
Even though Lucom’s will generously provided for his widow, Hilda “Toni” Arias Lucom, 83, a member of one of Panama’s most powerful families, she and several of her children and relatives are seeking to block the money from going to the charities. They want to invalidate the will and make Hilda the sole beneficiary.
They also seek to remove Lucom’s longtime tax lawyer, solo Palm Beach attorney Richard S. Lehman, as executor. Chuck Lucom had no biological children of his own or surviving close blood relatives.
Lucom’s will set off a nasty international legal battle in Palm Beach County — where Lucom had millions in bank accounts — and in Panama. The case raises questions about whether wealthy Americans who retire to Panama or other Latin American countries can count on having their wills and other legal documents enforced in foreign courts....