Banco Elca Failure Due to SUGEF Head Conspiracy, Denounces Former Elca Owner
The order by the Juzgado Penal de Hacienda del Segundo Circuito Judicial de San José to lift the secrecy vail over Banco Banex and the accounts held by the superintendent of banks, Óscar Rodríguez and his involvement in Banex, was a direct result by a complaint made by fallen Banco Elca owner and president, Carlos Alvarado Moya.

The action taken by the courts on March 16, giving Banco Banex 30 days to provide the prosecutors at the Ministerio Público related information and documents, effectively lifted the banking secrecy provisions, allowing fiscales (prosecutors) acccess to banking records of Óscar Rodríguez Ulloa and the corporations ORU Asesores Limitada, Agropecuaria Llama del Bosque de Escazú and Desarrollos de Proyectos S.A.

Rodríguez, who heads the banking regulator, Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras (Sugef), once was "apoderado generalisimo" - supreme power - over the affairs of Banco Banex when he was part of the bank, and the power never revoked, by what Banco Banex officials say was an oversight.

The investigation is centred on the relationship between Rodríguez and Banco Banex, then and now.

The complaint that led to the action was made by Alvarado on January 24 makes the accusation of a "complot" - a conspiracy - on the part of Rodríguez that led to the fall of Banco Elca to apparent conflicts with the banking regulator.

Alvarado says that Rodríguez, while he was at Banex, had shown an interest in Elca by way of ORU Asesores by way of a fusion of the Banco Finadesa and Banco Improsa, a deal that went nowhere. Before than Volio Capitales, headed by Rodríguez, was contracted to peddle the sale of Elca and would be paid a us$500.000 commission, which again never went anywhere, because it became part of the Venezuelan investors before the Banex interest in 2003.

When Rodríguez took over as head of SUGEF, according to Alvarado, one of his first actions was the Elca situation and it's "back to back" operations that left the bank in dire straights after the Venezuelans pulled out of the deal, which forced Alvarado to find a new buyer.

The new buyer of Elca came in early 2004 in a deal with a Mexican investor, which offered sufficient guarantees and signed and agreement for Elca which was shown to the SUGEF before July 31 2004.

However, on June 29 of 2004, Rodríguez asked the Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero (Conassif) to intervention in the affairs of Elca and the Mexican investor was asked to negotiated directly with the banking regulator and recommended Marco Cuadra, a former Banco Banex official, to be hired as a consultant by Alvarado to normalize Elca's operations.

Alvarado says that a plan was put together and submitted to SUGEF eight days before Alvarado was detained on August 8 of 2004. A San José court ordered preventive detention (jail) against Alvarado.

Parts of complaint claims that "they knew that Banco Elca had a way out of its financial problems by way of the Mexican investors". The complaint also alleges that the board liquidating the bank found irregularities with the intervention process and revealed administrative errors during the intervention period.

One of the claims is that the superintendent did not take an inventory of the banks assets and a total lack of order on the handling of bank information led to the squandering of bank funds and the interests of the depositors and creditors.

Rodríguez has not been available for comment since the news broke last week, only saying initially after the lifting of the banking secrecy provisions that he would not comment while investigators dig into his affairs and the affairs of the bank.

Banco Banex officials indicate that on March 8, 2000, the date Rodríguez resigned at the bank, that resolution was made to strip Rodríguez of all powers, however, due to an error, the resolution was never registered properly.

Conassif has determined that neither Banex nor Rodríguez has used the "poder generalísimo" since Rodríguez left the bank.