Costa Rican Catholic
Church Paid Back Italian
Investor After
Discovering Fraud
The Roman Catholic
church in Costa Rica
gave back us$700.000 to
Italian Giovanni Bondaz
from his deposit in a
bank account of the
Conferencia Episcopal,
even though there is the
possibility the Italian
politician may have
already had been paid
back, according to a
report by the daily
Spanish language, La
Nación.
The payment to Bondaz
was authorized by the
Conferencia Episcopal, a
body that unites all the
Catholic Bishops in
Costa Rica.
According to the Bishops
the payment is part of
an action taken by the
Conferencia Episcopal
after it discovered
fraud in July 2007
following the death of
the administrator of
Servicios Pastorales,
Jorge Torres Fuentes.
The Bishops found
irregularities,
including authorizations
of movements without
their knowledge, using
the Conferencia
Episcopal account held
at the Banco Nacional to
attract capital and make
loans.
The Bishops said that
the account was used to
illegally receive money
from within and outside
the country.
Carlos Vargas, lawyer
for the Conferencia
Episcopal, explained
that transactions were a
fraud perpetrated by
Fuentes against the
Conferencia Episcopal
and completely hidden
from the Bishops. Vargas
added that between 20
and 30 such transactions
were discovered after
Fuentes passed away.
Monseñor José Francisco
Ulloa, president of the
Conferencia Episcopal,
assured that once the
Bishops discovered the
hidden transactions they
immediately ordered a
cancellation of such and
to pay back every
investor whom they had
received monies from.
Vargas explained that he
advised the Bishops not
to file any criminal
charges as they would
lead nowhere with the
death of Fuentes,
extinguishing any
possible criminal
actions.
In the case of Gionvanni
Bondaz, who is a
politician tied to
Italy's Christian
Democratic party,
records show that he
made a us$700.000
deposit with Servicios
Pastorales.
Vargas assures that
because of the lack of
proper accounting
records and receipts,
all part of the fraud
actions by Fuentes, the
Bishops decided to pay
Bondaz based on records
presented them by the
Italian. The Bishops
said that they had
doubts that Bondaz had
been paid and decided to
authorize payment just
in case.
Bondaz, according to La
Nación, could not be
located, unavailable to
take their calls to get
his side of the story.
Records indicate that in
2004 the
Superintendencia General
de Entidades Financieras
(SUGEF) - superintendent
of financial
institutions - found
that the Conferencia
Episcopal was realizing
illegal intermediary
financial transactions
and order a stop.
At the time, the SUGEF
did not detect any "operaciones
de captación" or loans
that have now come to
light. The SUGEF
investigation found that
the Conferencia
Episcopal was receiving
monies from the
Guatemalan church and
pastors in Costa Rica
and placed the funds
with Grupo Sama.
Following the
investigation, the SUGEF
told the Conferencia
Episcopal to stop the
practice. However, the
Conferencia Episcopal
appealed the order and
in 2005 declared itself
immune to SUGEF and the
Supervisión del Sistema
Financiero (CONASSIF)
regulations and the then
foreign minister,
Roberto Tovar, advised
the CONASSIF that the
religious organizations
came under the
jurisdiction of the
Ministerio de Relaciones
Exteriores y Culto
(Foreign Relations
Ministry).
In March 2006, the
CONASSIF responded by
telling the foreign
ministry that it was not
investigating the
church's organization
but its non regulated
financial activities
which it conducted
throuhg Conferencia
Episcopal.
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