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In
November 2017, the Chinese
cement case caused the
arrest of importer Juan
Carlos Bolaños.
/ Asamblea Legislativa
courtesy photo.
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Attorney General appeals house
arrest
order of businessman Juan
Carlos Bolaños
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By the
A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Prosecutor General's Office
filed an appeal on Monday
against the decision of the
Criminal Court of the Treasury
to change the precautionary
measure of the accused Juan
Carlos Bolaños Rojas, from
preventive detention to house
arrest.
According to the Prosecution,
"the change of pre-trial measure
was requested approximately two
months ago by the accused, who
argued that the prison system
cannot give him the attention or
immediate restraint required by
a person that has a surgery.”
The Prosecutor's Office
considers that the suspect must
continue to serve preventive
custody since there are
documents that prove that the
Criminal Center does have the
attention and care required for
the recovery of a knee operation
that the suspect will have
carried out in the next few
days.
On Friday last week, the
Prosecutor General's Office
requested that the Court of
Appeals extend the preventive
detention of Bolaños, "however,
the Court has not ruled yet."
The Prosecutor's Office
requested that the change be
revoked and that the preventive
detention employer be
maintained. The appeal hearing
must be set before May 3.
Regarding the progress of the
investigation against Bolaños,
the Prosecutor's Office reported
that the case is progressing
satisfactorily, “despite it
being a very complex case that
requires an exhaustive analysis
of all the evidence that has
been confiscated in recently.”
As A.M. Costa Rica reported on
Tuesday, the Criminal Court of
the Second Judicial Circuit of
San José, approved the request
of Bolaños, for house
arrest.
According to the Court, the
decision was made because
Bolaños will soon have knee
surgery. For that reason the new
pre-trial measures are: remain
in the country, delivery of the
passport to custody by the
Public Ministry, use electronic
anklet and not communicate with
people who are also related to
the case known as Cementazo. He
also had to put two mortgages up
as collateral.
According to statements by
Bolaños’ lawyer, Juan Marco
Rivera, "the change of
precautionary measures was
achieved after a year and a half
of legal battle." From the
beginning, Bolaños was told that
he had real knee damage, which
was determined with different
medical opinions and received no
treatment. The penitentiary
centers in which he was located
did not provide care. It made it
extremely difficult for doctors
to arrive.
In December of 2018, Bolaños had
already undergone knee surgery
and was transferred to the jail
for the elderly, CAI Senior
Adult prison located in Alajuela*.
The Cementazo case was also
mentioned in a U.S. report
"Cementazo corruption case in
Costa Rica."
"A scandal of corruption and
influence peddling that reached
the three powers of Costa Rica,"
is the way to the International
Drug Control Strategy 2018
described the case of illegal
loans for the import of Chinese
cement, locally known as
Cementazo.
"A corruption scandal and
influence peddling that erupted
in July 2017 triggered
investigations and suspensions
of officials in all three
branches of the state and a
state bank, which may have
helped to obtain a large sum of
loans and receive import permits
among other benefits," said the
report.
In November 2017, the Chinese
cement case caused the arrest of
importer Juan Carlos Bolaños, as
well as that of six managers of
the Bank of Costa Rica, who are
being investigated for influence
going from influence peddling to
embezzlement in the granting of
a line of credit for more than
$30 million.
Investigations related to the
case also included the former
legislators Victor Morales
Zapata and Otto Guevara, as well
as the former magistrate Celso
Gamboa, whom the Supreme Court
asked for his post after
concluding that he had committed
serious offenses due to his
relationship with Bolaños.
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Should Bolaños continue to
serve pretrial detention in
jail after the surgery? We
would like to know your thoughts
on this story. Send your
comments to: news@amcostarica.com
*Link to reach the place map.
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