10 Panama owned duty free outlets closed in fraud probe

 
1,539Views 0Comments Posted 10/10/2015

TEN PANAMA OWNED ‘La Riviera' duty free stores  in Guatemala’s La Aurora airport have been closed  for alleged customs fraud.

La Riviera is the commercial name of Guatemala Free Shops S.A, which are part of Wisa Group S.A, a Panamanian company with operations in more than 14 countries and in the main airports in Latin America. It is the company that recently took over Felix Maduro.

"When Guatemala Free Shops S.A (La Riviera) was established there were irregularities, they should be authorized by the Congress to be a duty  free store and not pay taxes. In Guatemala there are only three entities that have this permission. La Riviera is not among them, still the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT) authorized them," said the prosecutor against Administrative Offences, Heidy de Leon.

In Guatemala there are only three non-governmental organizations authorized to manage duty free  business: The Child Protection Society, The Center for Family Integration Association and the Association of Ladies of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.

These three organizations use the benefits generated through the duty free stores  for social services.

It is a different system to the one used in other countries like Panama, where the operation of duty free is open and is provided by a concession through a tender notes La Prensa..

Research shows that between 2009 and 2012, the beauty franchise evaded tax close to $7.5 million (59 million quetzals), said Julia Barrera, spokeswoman of the Guatemalan Public Ministry.

"At the moment the investigation only yields results of this period. But the investigations continues”, she said.

In this process, said  De Leon, the Panamanian lawyer Lucia Touzard Romo is the only representative of the company to face criminal offense since she is the signatory on the installation documents of the franchise.

Touzard Romo, who is also the representative of Wisa Group of Panama is subject to an  international arrest order and could face five to eight years in prison for the crime.

Asked about the closure of the stores in Guatemala, Juan Luis Correa, corporate vice president of Wisa Group, said the company was authorized to provide the services.

"We operate under the special regime determined by the Uniform Central American Customs Code (Cauca) and Recauca. And the SAT authorized the operation, as did the Department of Aeronautics", said Correa.

Correa said that this figure allows to bring goods from abroad with suspension of import duties and of value added tax, because the goods do not enter the country.

He added that they are going to submit an appeal against the "temporary closure decreed so that the operations are resumed as soon as possible in order to minimize the damage that is going to be caused to more than 100 Guatemalan employees and their families who depend on this work for living" reports La Prensa.

Correa’s name surfaced recently in connection with Ricardo Martinelli’s accounts at the Financial Pacific brokerage, now under investigation by anti-corruption prosecutors.

In the structure of Guatemala duty free Shops appears also Mohamed Abdo Waked Darwich, who is not accused of any crime. Waked Darwich is the son of Abdul Waked, president of Wisa Group of Panama reports La Prensa.

Other people under the spotlight of prosecutors are  officials of the SAT who participated in the installation of 'La Riviera'.