Friday 6 June 2003

Hello Friends
by Hank

Many developments today!

This morning, a paid advertisement appeared in the Tico Times, paid for and written by four former UCCR Board members. These folks were involved during the initial days of the UCCR shortly after the raid. The advertisement wishes the best of luck to Enrique Villalobos and his brother Osvaldo. It then goes on to outline the injustice of the whole ordeal and underwrites full support of the current UCCR team.

This piece is not available in the on-line edition of the Tico Times, but as soon as someone scans it in, I will e-mail it to all of you.

Meanwhile, Jose Miguel's work on the Habeus Corpus continues and UCCR promises that they will have the translated version on their web site soon.

Now, for the Main Course of the Day, the "Special" if you will;
UCCR published this morning the content of the letter written by Enrique Villalobos. You will find it below AND on their web site:
www.ticostuff.com/uccr

So, read and agree...

Hank
sky_boy@swbell.net



To our members and all investors,

The UCCR, and our attorney, Jose Miguel Villalobos, proudly announce the publishing of the letter from don Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho that was presented to the Courts of Costa Rica along with the Writ of Habeas Corpus presented to the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica this morning.

The letter has been posted on the UCCR web site and is available to our members and all investors at: http://www.ticostuff.com/uccr/ in English and it's original Spanish in their respective pages. The French language version will be available soon.

The Writ of Habeas Corpus will also be published today. We will send you a separate message informing you of the posting when it becomes available on our site.

Please remember that we depend on your contributions to continue our struggle for our rights. Those of us who have already contributed are depending on more of you to join us in this endevour. We cannot continue without your help.

The UCCR
Unidos, venceremos!
United, we will succeed!



Title: Letter from Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho


May 13, 2003

Honorable Lic. Francisco Sanchez
Judge Guarantor of Rights
Penal Tribunal of San Jose

Honorable Judge:

With all due respect I send you this letter with the sole purpose that you as Judge, and human being, devote a moment to reflect about the manner, the conditions and the style in which the judicial process that is being undertaken against the undersigned and my brother Oswaldo Villalobos Camacho has been taking place. As can be observed in the case file, you in your capacity as Judge Guarantor of Rights have upheld and endorsed all the proposals and motions that the Prosecutor Mr. Walter Espinoza has requested and made, and have turned down and rejected almost one hundred percent of the proposals and motions that my lawyers have made to defend and preserve our rights.

I doubt very much that you, Honorable Judge, can comprehend the profound moral pain and the enormous economic damage that this case, initiated inappropriately, and to this date unjustly conducted, has produced in us, our families, and those individuals who, based on trust and respect invested their money with me. You may not understand what one feels when a person who is trustworthy has to stop fulfilling his obligations with his creditors due to circumstances that are beyond his control. In my case, the first thing the Judicial Authorities did was close down bank accounts, freeze the funds, deprecate my name and that of my brother to public opinion and the National and Foreign Banks, and stamp us with the seal of money launderers and drug traffickers. I have said it repeatedly. During 25 years I personally received money from investors who trusted me because I never defrauded them and always paid them their principal and interest. You are fully aware that receiving money from third parties is not a crime in Costa Rica. I carried out that activity, I did it individually and exclusively, that was my business and I have so accepted it publicly.

My brother Oswaldo never gathered or raised funds. His work was to manage the Casa de Cambio Ofinter S.A. (Money Exchange business) where foreign exchange was bought and sold under strict supervision and regulation, reporting on a daily basis to SUGEF, entity that has clearly stated that it never detected the existence of any irregularities in the management of said company. Honorable Judge, there is a tremendous confusion in the investigation between what the Casa de Cambio did and what my activities were, in which Oswaldo never had anything to do with it. If Your Honor examines the file thoroughly, you will note that there is not a single check from Oswaldo in favor of the investors that are parties to this case, that can establish the existence of any investment negotiated with my brother. Nobody will be able to attest that they loaned money to or invested with my brother, because his activity was to buy and sell foreign exchange according to the legal conventions and regulations established by SUGEF and the Central Bank for Foreign Exchange businesses. If the Honorable Judge evaluates the case file in its entirety and in a thorough manner and focuses not only on what the Prosecutor states, you will become aware that neither my brother nor a series of companies that are now literally bankrupt due to the measures taken against them, have anything to do with this matter. I emphasize that there is a group of companies that have received enormous damages, in their capacity as affected third parties, and which do not have anything to do whatsoever with the origin of the investigation. The Prosecutor's Office has made a complete mess, has created a storybook of assumptions, there are enormous errors that have been committed and that my lawyers will reveal later at the appropriate time, and what is worse, several procedures and constitutional and legal rights have been violated in our detriment.

It is important that you, don Francisco, know that despite the way in which the Prosecutor’s Office initiated this process, the publicity that was given to the raids, the news coverage in the media, the declarations that Government officials gave in conjunction with the investigation, the very serious link with money laundering and drug trafficking that was imposed on us, we, my brother and I, tried to collaborate with the investigation since the beginning. I am going to specify certain facts, Honorable Judge, that you may not be aware of but that are established in the same case file.

Ask the Prosecutor if it is true or not that when he raided the offices in the San Pedro Mall, where, by the way, no difference is made between the branch office of the Casa de Cambio (Money Exchange) and my personal office, he left behind, forgotten and abandoned, precisely on July 4th, several bags of documents and records, which later in my car, my lawyer, my brother and I took directly to his office, as is documented in the court records under the numbers 319401 through 319403? Nothing would have prevented us from disappearing those bags, hide the documentation and in the process hold the Prosecutor accountable. Nonetheless, we acted correctly because we have always been certain and shall be until the end that the truth and justice will prevail in this case sooner rather than later.

Do you know, Honorable Judge, that when the Prosecutor raided the San Pedro Mall offices they took more than US$250 thousand dollars, or the equivalent to more than one hundred million colones, and that there is no resolution in the file, nor any record that indicates who has that money or where it is? Where is that money? Is it with the papers from the raid, in the bags that many have already examined, in the Court accounts, in the safety deposit box of the Prosecutor, in his office, in the Judge’s Chamber, in short where is that money, where is a notified resolution that discusses about a deposit in that amount, whose seizure is registered in the court records of the raid numbers 330427, 324515 and others?

Do you know, don Francisco, that as is revealed in the court records numbers 324392 and 324391 the Canadians that were supposedly linked to drug traffic and that brought their money to Costa Rica, had savings and checking accounts in dollars in the Banco Nacional de Costa Rica, in the Jaco branch office and in Banco Promerica, entities that, nonetheless were not raided. Could you explain to me why there was such unequal treatment? Why, as can be noted in the case file, in my case nonappearance and contempt of court was dictated and an arrest warrant issued before issuing a summons to direct me to make a declaration?

Why does such a profound conceptual confusion exist in the case file between what is seizure, freezing, sequester and confiscation that affects us severely and causes severe harm to third parties?

Why was it ordered through a resolution to transfer to accounts of the Judicial Power moneys from companies that were in accounts that had already been unfrozen?

Why are moneys transferred that belonged to companies whose accounts are frozen in the Banks, to the Judicial Power without notifying the companies that are proprietors of those moneys, as if they had nothing to say with respect to that judicial decision?

Are you familiar, don Francisco, with the resolution from the Superior Penal Tribunal issued at 15 hours on September 17, 2002, which literally stated: “it is fitting to call the attention of the Prosecutor’s Office about the need to define quickly the results of the investigation to the effect of not taking any more time than is strictly necessary to the detriment of the interested parties” (the underlining is mine).

Are you aware, don Francisco, that here the interested parties are not only my brother and myself, but that there are companies that have not paid the social security contributions, their employee payrolls, the water services, telephone, electricity, and that despite this fact the term for the investigation is continually being extended at the request of the Prosecutor; term which is now close to reaching one full year? Are you aware, Honorable Judge, that each day that you add to this investigation will be one more day of pain and injury to many innocent victims?

Basically, these are just a few irregularities of many more that have been accumulating and which are evident by merely carrying out a thorough analysis of the case file. I am certain of one thing, the term of the investigation can be extended for the Prosecutor for another 20 years and he will never be able to link us with money laundering or drug traffic because I swear by Our Lord that we have never been involved in any of that. I am also certain that with regard to the crime of illegal financial intermediation, with which there has been a desire to incriminate us, after we were publicly torn apart with the allegations of legitimization of capital, there are serious confusions enormous ambiguities and imprecision in the amounts, mistaken figures regarding the number of investors and many other aspects that my lawyers shall demonstrate in a timely fashion
What profoundly hurts me about all this, is that all the damage and enormous detriment this has caused me, my brother, our families, today destroyed, to our honor, the companies arbitrarily involved, my respectable investors and creditors, to our clients, among many others, could have been avoided if the Prosecutor’s investigation would have been prudent, sensible, without press, without public declarations, without arbitrary measures, without the capricious freezing of the accounts of companies that later had to be unfrozen, basically, if the investigation would have been for justice and not for the public, because there was no need for public mockery, nor so much abuse to conduct a professional investigation, one that was just, adhering to and abiding by the law, and respectful of the rights of the subjects investigated. Unfortunately, the investigation was and has been imprudent, subjective, and irregular, and you, Your Honor, as Judge Guarantor of Rights, have to appraise with conscience, and in adherence to the law, the expression of this sentiment I have, and which I have wanted to very respectfully express by way of this letter.

Your Honor, today I find myself like a fugitive, not because I want to evade justice, but because on the basis of the imprudent way this investigation has been conducted, I was threatened with death and it is my interest to remain alive that perhaps some day with the help of God I may honor my obligations, like I have always done. This investigation and the manner in which it has been conducted has destroyed my honor, the trust, and entrepreneurial efforts of many years, has completely destroyed my family, has deteriorated my health and has hurt many good and honest people, but I know that above all men is my God, in whom I trust, and know that he will help me so that when it is time all the truth will come out.

Like Psalm 94 reveals: “But justice will return unto the righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Unless the lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, help me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which framed mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the Lord is my defense; and my God is the rock of my refuge.


May God enlighten you, Your Honor.

Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho

Email this page to a Friend