So today was the (not so) big day for Patrick Visser, Maurice Sjerps and Keren Visser-Katz in the 14th criminal court in Panama, where your editor was being tried for evil crimes against the honor of those poor tree hustlers. Quick refresher on Silva Tree, now called "Sustainable Capital Group", here. Patrick Visser's character is best explained by a former employee, here.
But! First things first: Who the hell chooses Monte Friesner's outfits?
Huh? Friesner? Yes, the man himself. He entered the courtroom together with his new best friends, Patrick Visser and Maurice Sjerps, chatting and whatnot, dressed in a brownish suit - the kind on which you don't notice bird poop - with a pale orange shirt and a Soviet style commie designer tie, making him look like a Brezhnev era apparatchik. Next to him sat his loyal-as-a-dog assistant Edelweiss Serrano, with that look of a cow gazing across the ditch, just before it says, "Mooooooo". It's nice to see that Visser and Sjerps have made such upstanding friends in Panama, which can be a cold and lonely place otherwise for tree hustlers.
Patrick Visser, in turn, took out a camera. Then he put it back in his bag. Sjerps just sat there and frankly looked like a sack of potatoes past the expiry date.
Anyway, the trial began, and boy oh boy, we should all feel so sorry for Patrick and Maurice and Keren! They can't sleep, their company lost money, investors were running away, family is calling them - even the trees were stressed out because of your evil Bananama Republic having the audacity to write true stories about them! The horror! Everybody was moved to tears in the courtroom because of so much suffering and distress and trauma.
Little problem is of course that they a sort of failed to submit one single shred of evidence for all these allegations and imaginations. But hey, who cares about evidence if you're a tree hustler falsely claiming that your scheme is carbon certified and offers guaranteed returns, right?
So, what else did we learn today? One memorable moment was when their lawyer asked the judge to sequester this website. Now that would be an interesting affair to say the least, a Panamanian court trying to physically seize a website registered and hosted abroad. Good luck with that, I'd say.
Similarly, they tried to squeeze in a civil law request and have the judge order me to pay them 5 million dollars. Ain't gonna happen. An earlier request to sequester my assets was denied, and the judge made it clear he wasn't gonna honor any new ones, so exit that idea.
Noteworthy also was that the case against colleague Mrs. Miller of the Christian Science Monitor, who first published about Silva Tree and their carbon credit sham, has been dismissed. Why? Well, the Panamanian Public Ministry hadn't really gotten the message on US policy of not cooperating with criminal libel cases, and US State Dept. thus refused to do anything to have Mrs. Miller served with citations to appear in the Panamanian courtroom. 'Go home, you libel tourists', said the Americans to the Panamanians. So there!
From what we heard (and it was not easy to keep track of their lawyer who just rambled on and on about his poor clients and their bizznizz traumas), the most urgent desire of Patrick Visser, Maurice Sjerps and Keren Visser-Katz is that the bad publicity about them will simply disappear from the web and that "all this comes to an end". The judge hasn't ruled yet - that'll take about 30 days - but regardless of what he rules and/or what appeals are being filed after that, stories disappearing is something that simply is not going to happen, and no good reasons were given by these shysters why anything should come to an end either. These clowns have been their own generators of bad news with their wacky behavior, which means there will most likely be more, not less, publicity - no matter what the verdict is.
So, Bert and Ernie Patrick and Maurice left a sort of empty handed and outside the court, out of frustration, Visser yelled something in Dutch which I couldn't really understand but surely it was just more drivel and bullshit. So that was that! The great day in court! No arrests of your editor, no jail terms, no hauling away nor any of the other fantasies these punks like to write about.
Next? Next is Monte Friesner, on October 3rd, same court, at 14:00. Will Visser and Sjerps be there for moral support? He'll probably need it!
UPDATE: And there is Patrick Visser with his version! The gift that keeps on giving: Admits that personal damage and suffering isn't really proven, and his shout in Dutch was, apparently, "Why, oh why?". Or something to that effect. Stupid question, of course, for anyone who has followed this saga here on Bananama Republic. Just to show how crazy and delusional this guy really is: He alleges somewhere else on his website that your editor sent emails to his mother in law. Truth is that I have no bloody idea who his mother in law is, and even less what her email address is, and if she received something it's probably because she was among the recipients of something Visser himself sent out or whatever. We don't use the email address bananamarepublic@gmail.com either, didn't even know it existed, but you might wanna ask your buddy Friesner about it as it sounds like his kind of thing. This piece of work just is incapable of saying anything that is true. Which reminds me: Not a word about this exciting day on Monte Friesner's "WantedSA" website-with-sheriff-badge, nor on the scam pimp's Panama Guide rag! Come on, guys, what's happening? We're counting on you to make wacky and perverted shit up!
OH please .. who are you kidding? you can TOTALLY sequester this website, seize your smart phone.. duh.
I don’t have a smartphone. It drowned.
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did anyone get a picture of Friesner in his brown klepto-suit with orange shirt?
Unfortunately not. One can’t take photos in the courtroom, and when all wa said and done he raced out. Saw him later in the street where he fled into his car, together with Miss Edelweiss and his lawyer, Garcia.
Although this is all very entertaining and certainly serves a purpose, especially at this very moment there are so many issues at hand in Panama (and beyond) that really deserve attention. Issues that will affect everyone’s lives in the near future. Nobody bothers and nobody cares.
For example, today in 15 minutes 3 laws were passed. Apparently unimportant laws, that were required by the US to implement the TLC (another issue that nobody really wants to dive into). Nobody really wonders why the US wants these laws here.
Intellectual property is defined and regulated in these laws (among others) and separately, property rights of new plants. Why would that be important in a TLC?
Well… there is a US company called Monsanto, as famous as it is controversial, they have been busy collecting nearly every plant species in the world, make a small modification in its DNA et voila.. a new (protected!) species. Monsanto is the most notorious one, but there are many like them.
One day your neighbor plants corn that originates from Monsanto, because it grows faster, is pest resistant or for whatever magical reason. You don’t want that. You like to grow corn natural, healthy as your father did before you. Good for you! Or is it?
During the pollination process there will be an exchange of DNA between the two species. Now your screwed big time. You can not use your seeds to replant, because of that. It contains their DNA, it is their property therefor. They will bill and/or sue your ass.
You don’t think that will happen? It already does! Google Monsanto to find out the extend.
These corporations are on the verge of controlling the food chain. This and similar processes are going on right now. I think we all, including the Panamanian public, would be very much served if someone would open our eyes. These are the real criminals, the big ones, the untouchables. Friesner/Visser don’t even show up in that list.
Every crime of corruption ever committed by anyone will seem like petty theft compared to what is going on right now, on that level and in that context.
My point being.. as entertaining as Friesner may be, I sincerely believe there is a more important mission here for serious and talented journalists. Fighting windmills? Bueno pues..
Eazy, I agree almost completely with you. Almost, because the issues you mention and this story above partly overlap, notably where it comes to the authorities attempting to control the internet.
My other observation is that everybody is arriving way too late at the table. I did a series of articles about exactly the issues you mention – Monsanto, patenting life forms, the FTA and big pharma – way before the FTA was even approved in Panama, and nobody paid any attention. It was just not an issue here.
I just finished a discussion on Twitter with Alvaro Alvarado because I was saying the same as you; that the media totally dropped the ball on this whole affair, the FTA and these laws 510 and 511. They should have done themed editions of the papers or special supplements, or specials on TV.
I agree, we are late, very late, too late maybe indeed. The good thing about a small country like Panama, things can change rapidly. We can’t stop it worldwide, but “easily” influence general perception here.
I think most Panamanian politicians are not willingly participating in this. They don’t know, some don’t care and the majority is just plain too under-educated and/or ignorant. Information on these things is buried, so we they have all the excuse in the world for not knowing.
Any way, thanks for your response and for not taking my comment the wrong way. I’m thrilled to see that you’re on the ball on different fronts. I knew you wouldn’t be indifferent to this. Let’s hope Mr. Alvarado will see the light and Telemetro starts to informing rather than entertain. Take care.
waiting with baited breath for an update on the Friesner court date yesterday…
I was glad to read on twitter that it all went well, but, details please!!
Who said Panama is slow?
Prensa:
Después de dos años de investigaciones y análisis de riesgo, la Comisión Nacional de Bioseguridad avaló el cultivo, bajo supervisión, de maíz transgénico en las provincias de Los Santos y Herrera. La semilla que utilizarán los agricultores se importará de Estados Unidos a través de la empresa Pioneer Hi-Breed.
Una vez emitida la resolución, Melo, distribuidor local, deberá cumplir algunos requisitos, como el registro del material genético en el Comité Nacional de Semillas. La siembra semicomercial podría empezar el próximo año, informó Judith Vargas, presidente del Comité Sectorial de Bioseguridad Agropecuario.