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Panama Facts – The ones they do not tell you about!
By Aurelia Masterson, http://www.panamalaw.org
Assets Not So Safe in Panama – 
There is a way to get a court order in Panama from a Panama Courtto garnish, lien or levy a Panama Bank account. If you do not know where the persons bank is you canhave the court send a Fax to all the banks in Panama asking them to seize, lien, levy any bank accountassociated with the name of the person as a beneficiary owner or signatory. This is called a sequestro.Will this include foundation or corporate accounts too? It might, depends on the case and the court. The plaintiff will have to post a 10% to 15% deposit on the amount to be attached. If the defendant prevailsin court this deposit can go to the defendant. It may also take months or years to get your money back.This could destroy your business and your personal finances and even bankrupt you all based on justallegations.
Civil Law Suit Games in Panama
– If you are in a civil fight in Panama the adversary can post a bondof say 10% to 15% of the cash value of an asset and have it seized. This is called an embargo. It goes tostorage until the case is decided in court. Time frame is usually three years or longer. This has beenused to take the personal contents out of a persons home including the beds, furniture, TV, computers,linen, towels, dishes, firearms, jewelry etc. There are no exempt items except medicine and somenecessary medical equipment as a possible exemption.So think if they take all your furniture, refrigerator, clothes, beds etc and also lien your bank accountswhat are you going to do? They could also garnish a car or a boat this way and put it into storage. Whata nice court system. Asset protection in Panama has a lot of problems. If you do not live or operate a business in Panama the risks are lower but still there.
Preventive Detention
– If you are charged with a crime in Panama you can be arrested and held in preventive detention until the trial, figure three years. If you are a foreigner unlikely to return if allowed to leave, you will not be able to post a bond. Having a pensionado or residency status does notmean you are not foreigner. A Panamanian citizen is not a foreigner, and pensionado or residency statusis a foreigner.
 
If you are a Panamanian with roots and family in Panama you can generally post a bond to avoid preventive detention if in fact they even get to considering preventive detention. It is guilty until proveninnocent. Preventive detention has better conditions than regular jail but it is still jail. They do not giveyou health care coverage in jail. Think about your health if your money runs out and you are still in jail.
Search Warrants
– The police in Panama do not need a search warrant for any reason to searchanything. This can include your home, your person, your car, your vault box, your business etc. Ok if you trust the government, I guess.
Crime of Passion
– If you catch your spouse with another person being intimate you can kill one or  both of them as a crime of passion and not be prosecuted. The crime must happen as soon as you catchthem. You cannot like go to a friend’s house, get a gun and return in that this would be premeditative.You could do this with a girlfriend or boyfriend but could be more risky than with a spouse. So you canget away with murder in Panama.
Gun Rights
– You can get permission to own and or carry a gun in Panama as a permanent resident or  pensionado. It takes most people three years to get a permanent residency so what do you do for theyear years. Panama has a high crime rate. To get a gun you need to supply DNA from blood. Then thegun goes in for ballistic sampling. Process can take several months. Who do they share your DNAwith? There have been some close calls regarding people losing many of their gun rights. Somethingthat can happen at any time completely or in a diminishing capacity.
Panama Residencies
– Panama has no clear or easy path to citizenship. The law reads that after onehas a permanent residency for five years they can apply for citizenship. On average this is granted toabout 2 ½ people a year. It usually takes 2-3 years to get permanent residency. Your residency cardcannot be used to open bank accounts; they still want your passport from the home country. Theseresidencies are treated as long-term visas in reality. If the conditions used to obtain the residencychange your residency can be cancelled even though they call it a permanent residency do not be sosure about it. If you marry a Panamanian you get a “permanent” residency but if you divorce you loseyour residency status.Other countries treat permanent residents almost like a citizen without voting rights. Not Panama. Youwill need your passport from the home country for everything legal like opening bank accounts, signingleases, buying a house, writing a check, buying a car, boat, etc. Your residency or pensionado card isnot considered to be a valid ID by most. Panama has the absolute hardest and tightest immigration lawsanywhere in Central or South America. Every country has a direct real path to citizenship but Panama.
 
Crime in Panama
– Panama used to be a safe country. This changed by 2008. It is not a safe countryanymore. You hear of ATM robberies, kidnappings, home invasions, burglaries, and street crime. Youwake up in the morning and read all about the drug busts, which seem to be never ending. Then youread of people caught at the airport with a few million dollars in the luggage, undeclared of course. Thedrug traffickers kill each other with regularity. They are found dead in their palatial condos with a bullet in the head. They get shot in the street.Once on via Espana near the big church in 2008 across the street from the Crowne Plaza there was atypical drug execution. A drug type walked out to his car and two guys came up on a motorcycle andsprayed about forty rounds at him in broad daylight. Bullets hit the buildings. Women standing therewere traumatized as they saw the body dancing from the impact of the bullets. The shooters then droveaway on the motorcycle blowing kisses at the crowd like an opera singer. They were never caught, asfar as I know.There were several different drug related shootings in front of a big El Cangrejo hotel in a period of two or three months. People get home invaded in private homes and sometimes in new condos withsecurity. Suspects are usually the security guards. They tie the people up, beat them, force them to opensafes, rape is optional. Women are afraid to go to the malls due to people jumping in the car with themand doing who knows what. Panama crime is now up there with any third world country.
Street Beggars
– They are there and lots of them. They can get aggressive, hang on cars windows, if they get their hand in the car try to force window down, try to clean your windshield. They will bemore aggressive with a foreigner trying to get more of a handout from a foreigner.
Police in Panama
– Well they are present. You will soon be annoyed at their roadblocks. They look incar and check papers. It soon becomes a real pain. They go to restaurant and tourist districts at nightand check people’s papers. Used to be a foreigner could stay in Panama for years with an expired visa,now off to immigration jail. Fines and then you leave. If they see a crime being committed they willengage the perpetrators. They will not turn a blind eye. If they do not see the crime being committed itis a safe bet they will never catch anyone.Their investigative resources leave a lot to be desired and they move slowly. They do not havesophisticated labs or crime scene analysis. If you are experiencing a break in and call, well I think oneway or the other it will be over before they arrive, if they ever arrive. Forget calling if you do not speak Spanish. Always make sure you know who you are opening the door for even in a condo with security.They corrupt someone’s maid to buzz them into a building and then try to get into several homes.Homes invasions are traumatizing to say the least. Make sure your maid does not set you up by leavingthe back door open, losing her key etc.
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