Fiscalía Requests
For Capture of Quintavalle
Matteo Quintavalle, the
flamboyant businessman
who made the headlines a
couple of months ago
buying the contracts of
soccer players and his
financial wizardry, is
nowhere to be found. The
Italian businessman did
not show up, as promised
by his lawyer, at the
Ministerio Público in
San José.
Quintavalle was to have
appeared at 8:00am to
answer questions of
investigators who
are delving into
complaints of fraud by
investors in
Quintavalle's business.
The interview was to
have been with officials
of the Fiscalía de
Delitos Económicos,
Corrupción y Tributarios.
Yesterday, the Fiscalía
requested an order for
his capture.
At first the Juzgado
Penal de Hacienda
considered the request
inappropriate. Late last
night, Fiscales
(prosecutors) appealed
the decision to the
Tribunal Penal, which
left the decision open
to another court to
consider.
The frustrated actions
of the Fiscales came
after they waited
patiently for
Quintavalle to show for
his appointment, failing
which, after midday the
process of requesting
his capture began.
The Hacienda court said
that there was not
enough foundation, based
on the complaint by the
17 American investors,
to order a detention of
the businessman. The
prosecutors insisted and
appealed before the
Tribunal Penal that said
there was enough
evidence to proceed with
an order for capture and
thus opened the door for
the Fiscalía to present
a new request.
The Fiscalía made it
known that it would
allow Quintavalle to
present himself, along
with his lawyer, for
questioning, and would
delay the capture
request.
Quintavalle, who was
supposed appear before
the Juzgado de Turno
Extraordinario, in
Goicoechea, last night,
again, did not show.
Thursday, officials of
the Policía Judicial
raided the home, offices
and hotels - in Escazú
bad Quepos - of
the Italian businessmen
in search of evidence to
support the claim of
investors and misuse of
the us$4.1 million
dollars invested.
Neither Quintavalle nor
the four co-accused were
anywhere to be found.
Some reports say that
Quintavalle knew about
the raids as much as 10
days ago and went into
hiding.
His lawyer, Rafael
Gairaud, was not
available for comment
yesterday, told
the press on Thursday
following the raids
"What are we going to
negotiate with Fiscalía?
We came to see what the
situation is for don
Matteo from the
perspective of his
accusers."
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