"Papadimitriu Should Have Said Something From The Start" - Martinelli
The Minister of the Presidency, Demetrio Papadimitriu, should have clarified his family's participation in the purchase of rights of possession property in Juan Hombrón from the outset, said president Ricardo Martinelli. "If I had known, I would have told you before," Martinelli said on channel 2 TVN Noticias. On 20 December 2011, two months after it was disclosed that the government had granted free title to 54 hectares of land in Juan Hombrón to several privately held companies linked to the family members of the Minister of the Presidency - Papadimitriu admitted his parents had confirmed their connection with the acquisition and titling of those lands. The lawyers representing the Papadimitriu family say they claimed the title over these rights because they paid for them. Last night Papadimitriu was called and a message was left but he did not answer. (Prensa)
Editor's Comment: Whoops, again. Is this Martinelli tossing Papadimitriu under the bus? Maybe he's the member of the Cabinet who's "burned out" and in need of a change of scenery. Well, I doubt it. Martinelli has stuck by several others of his administration who have gotten in trouble for scandals, and you really (really) have to screw the pooch for him to jettison your ass. There have been several people that I thought "well, that's it for that guy..." but in the end Martinelli has remained true. And, Papadimitriu is Martinelli's closest political adviser so in reality there's not much of a chance of him getting cut loose. But yeah, Papadimitriu should have let us know sooner his parents were using their son's political connections to worm ill gotten land titles for beachfront property thanks to sweetheart deals with the ANATI. That would have been nice...
