By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization,
in an joint operation with officials of the Public
Prosecutor's Office, carried out a raid on a house
in the China town* of San José, arrested five Chinese men surnamed Li, Xie, Feng, Sheng and Hu, suspected of money laundering, also
was seized approximately $3 million.
"This operation is the second part of an
investigation that began in August 2018," said
Walter Espinoza, General Director of Judicial
Investigation Organization. "When we made a raid on
an apartment located in a building in Paseo Colon,
where a Chinese person was arrested and was
approximately $500,000 was seized."
On Tuesday, more than eight months later, the second
operation in this case involving money laundering
and alleged drug trafficking was carried out. "We
have been investigating the way in which the money
came to the country, was stored and deposited into
the country's financial system, with which it was a
matter of money laundering," said Espinoza.
The Prosecutor 's Office confirmed that the five
suspects were taken to the cells of the Public
Ministry where they were interviewed by the judicial
agents, and must wait for a judge to dictate the
pre-trial measures against them.
The initial case happened in August of 2018, as
reported on AM Costa Rica, when one Chinese citizen
surnamed Wen, was sentenced to pre-trial detention
as money laundering suspect.
Investigations, monitoring, and follow-ups carried
out by agents, resulted in the arrest on a money
laundering allegation of the 24-year-old Chinese
man, also naturalized Ecuadoran. A judge of Public
Ministry sentenced three men of pre-trial detention
in that case.
The investigation began several weeks before his
arrest, when the man was detected at the Juan Santamaría Airport*
entering the country with a large sum of money.This
was not the first time the man had entered the
country and declared a large sum on money.
"He lived in an apartment located in a luxurious
building in Paseo Colon" said police in its report.
As part of the investigation, a raid was made in the
apartment, where a luxury car was also seized.
According to the documentation found by police , the
luxury car was purchased with $65,000 in cash. An
additional $468,760 was found hidden in the
apartment, now evidence in the investigation.
Also seized were two computers, two cell phones, a
banknote counting machine, storage devices, stacks
of 1,000 colon notes and stacks of dollar banknotes.
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Should
judges increase the pre-trial detention period for
those suspected of laundering large amounts of
money?
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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