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Published Friday, June 5, 2020

Costa Ricans allegedly linked to
money laundering scandal of
former Peru president


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


The Deputy Prosecutor's Office against the Legitimation of Capital, which means money laundering, advanced their investigation into Costa Ricans linked with the case of alleged money laundering of Alejandro Toledo, former president of Peru.

In July 2019, former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo was arrested in the U.S. while facing an extradition order to Peru, as part of a sweeping corruption case process.

According to the Prosecutor's Office on Thursday, two former employees of a private bank and another employee who were still working there were interviewed.

These people are investigated for being allegedly linked to the world-famous money laundering case of former President Toledo.

The people investigated in Costa Rica are three women: one surnamed Blanco Berti, a former bank manager; another surnamed Ópez Gamboa, the former director; and an actual bank employee surnamed Rugama- Vargas.

In the interview process, the Public Ministry informs the accused persons of the crime attributed to them and the evidence, said the Prosecutor in its statement. The accused person may testify and offer evidence in their favor, or abstain from testifying, without presuming guilt.

These inquiries are always carried out in the presence of the lawyers of those being investigated.

According to the Prosecutor, the case was reactivated in 2018, upon assuming office, the Attorney General, Emilia Navas Aparicio.

Navas reviewed the file that had been dismissed since 2015 and she applied the legal figure known as a hierarchical amendment, which allowed the investigation to be reopened.

On May 2019, the General Superintendent of Financial Institutions imposed a fine for $2 million on the private bank for not complying with anti-money-laundering controls, which allowed the entry of $6.5 million linked to Toledo.

The superintendent proceeded to issue the final act of the sanctioning administrative proceedings against the bank based on Article 81 of Law No. 7786.

The decision was made in mid-April and was appealed by the bank before the National Council of Supervision of the Financial System.

On Feb. 2019, after the refusal and repeated obstruction of the private bank to supply the bank documentation ordered by the Criminal Court, the bank's headquarters were raided, with the authorization of a judge.

That raid resulted in the seizure of important evidence. Allowing the auditors of the Capital Legitimation Section of the Judicial Investigation Organization, to point out the link of Blanco, López and Rugama in the irregular opening of bank accounts, transfer of funds, credits, investment certificates and other financial operations in the bank, said the Prosecutor.

These actions of the people investigated were allegedly committed in violation of the anti-money laundering law, allegedly to hide, transform, transfer, and give the appearance of legitimacy to the money of former President Toledo.

According to the prosecution, the money was "the result of transnational bribes from the Odebrecht company, handled in that bank by people and companies that served as figureheads, including a woman surnamed Fernenbug, the mother-in-law of Toledo."

The amounts transferred between accounts and financial operations amounted to $18.5 million dollars, reported the Prosecutor.

In August 2017 the superintendent had confirmed that the bank had been investigated for several months for having received money that the Peruvian justice system had tried to freeze as part of funds apparently paid in bribes to their president.

Toledo was accused of receiving $20 million in donations from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for delivering a concession to build a highway in the Amazon which would unite Peru and Brazil.

A company in Costa Rica would have been created for the sole purpose of laundering assets coming from Peru and shortly after returning the money to the hands of Toledo or his wife Eliane Karp.

The money used was a loan from Toledo’s mother-in-law. At the time, Toledo said that the government of Germany had compensated the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, which included his mother-in-law.

The credit line did exist but was paid in full 89 days after it was granted, according to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Peru.

It is expected the private bank publishes in the next few days a statement related to this case.


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What other money laundering cases should authorities reactivate to further investigate?   We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com

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