Authorities have been monitoring some peoples’ financial transactions for years

Dollars

April 26^th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) Costa Rican authorities admit that they have been monitoring the financial accounts of various individuals and businesses for the last several years, on suspicion of money laundering.

Sources from the Financial Intelligence Unit of the ICD (Costa Rican anti-Drug Institute) said there is a list of names of several businessmen in the country whose financial accounts authorities have been monitoring since as early as 2000, the same year that Costa Rica instituted regulations that require banks to file Suspicious Transaction Reports when possible money laundering is suspected.

However, authorities said that none of the individuals on the list have so far been linked to a crime.

Agents preferred not to say how many individuals remain under constant monitoring, but gave the example of one businessman who has moved millions of dollars in the last five years, though authorities still do not have evidence to charge the man with a crime.

Agents said that the man’s primary business is real estate, though they allege that the man operates on behalf of an illegal betting ring and other businesses. The man apparently uses a complex system of corporations and other means in an attempt to obfuscate his business dealings.

“We’ve seen [real estate purchases] that were apparently made with betting proceeds, which are later resold. This is how this person draws his laundered money, in theory,” one officer said.

“Suspicious” accounts belonging to this person have been detected in three private banks, including one bank branch in Panama.

Authorities say that the man’s source of funds is related to two Americans who are owners of two major sportsbooks in San Jose. One of those two men also allegedly operates illegal lotteries in Grecia, Naranjo, and Palmares.

Agents say that the majority of the group’s profits are later invested in properties in Guanacaste, which are later sold at “inflated” prices to foreigners, providing a mechanism to launder their proceeds.

The man, who has been under financial monitoring for several years, has in his name or in the names of various corporations which he controls, four Ferraris, other vehicles valued at about $500,000, a yacht, several luxury homes, and is even a shareholder in one of the country’s major shopping malls.

“The collaboration of banks is essential, they are the key to finding suspicious transactions to demonstrate a crime. The Financial Intelligence Unit performs detailed investigations of the reports which we receive,” an agent said.

Data shows that the Financial Intelligence Unit investigated 350 cases of possible money laundering in 2011, and that the number of investigations is on the rise.