Scandal! Completely and totally unexpected, it turns out that the Martinelli government is a bunch of corrupt thieves! We had Martinelli himself, paying a family enterprise for National Government shirts, we have his political party burying the case of bribery for the appointment of two magistrates, and now we have Minister of Economy and Finance Alberto Vallarino who robs from the state in a shady tax dodging deal.
According to La Estrella, Vallarino sold a hotel. But he pretended to only sell the land on which the hotel was built, and then he had the land valued at its original value ($1,100) from about three centuries ago so that he only paid $23.12 in taxes on the deal.
The deal, in reality, is worth at least $32,000,000, which is the value of the hotel alone.
You see, this is how we do business in Panama. High level crooks don’t pay taxes on anything. All others pay for lousy public services and to maintain our glorious system of total corruption. Viva investment grade!
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