Tags: waked

ari, bern, playa bonita, shake-down, sharks, waked

Swimming with the Sharks

Posted Mar 7, 2008 | In Business | Leave a comment »

So what's going on with the Playa Bonita resort? Shake-down, dear readers, shake-down. Actually, Herman Bern is not directly involved in any litigation. Ahmad Waked sued the state for having illegally sold the piece of land to Bern, and the judge at first disagreed and then miraculously changed his mind, like, made a 180 degree turn and ruled that Waked was right. Why? Why do you think?

Anyway, Alfredo Arias G., the former administrator of ARI that arranged the sale, was kind enough to explain by fax what really happened at the time. Both parties were bidding. ARI wanted to change some of the rules, and both parties signed off on that. Then Bern's bid was higher than that of Waked. Bern got the land. Case closed? In a normal country, yes. But not in Panama's shark pond. So now Waked gets his court decision, and then the government has to do the shake-down of Bern for him. A similar scheme is in the works for the Miramar, we heard. Neat, huh?