Crime Does Pay In Costa Rica, Ask The Lopéz
Brothers
Crimes does pay in Costa Rica. Jjust ask the
López brothers, José Luis and Mariano, who
are still fugitives from the short arm of
Costa Rican law, who are now getting ready
to get back some of their confiscated
properties.
The López brothers ran the now defunct Banco
Anglo Costarricense, fleeing Costa Rican
jurisdiction before going to trials some
years back.
Now, after fours years of negotiations with
the Procuraduría General de la República,
the brothers will be getting back their
properties, since the Procuraduría has
decline to initiate a contentious trial.
However, it does not mean the brothers are
in the clear, charges against them have not
been dropped and there still stands an
international order for their capture, being
fingered as the responsible for the failure
of the bank.
The deal, according to the Francisco Campos,
lawyer for the brothers, was signed last
fall and confirmed by the Tribunal Penal del
Primer Circuito Judicial de San José last
February.
Ana Lorena Brenes, procuradora general de la
República, told the Spanish language
newspaper, La Nacion, that the state's case
against the brothers is week and there was
no assurance that to recover all the assets
of the failed bank.
Brenes addded that the Lopéz brothers were
not the only owners of the companies owning
the confiscated properties, as there were
partners involved who were not associated in
any way with the Banco Anglo.
The brothers José Luis and Mariano López are
alleged to have defrauded the bank of some
us$52 million dollars, missing from the
bank's accounts back in 1993 and 1994.
The brothers were charged with embezzlement
and fraud and detained. Although the
brothers were not permitted to leave Costa
Rica, they did so on September 1999, shorlty
thereafter ending up in Chile, the country
of origin of the Lopéz brothers, a country
that does not have an extradition treaty
with Costa Rica.
The Costa Rican government began
confiscating assets of the brothers that
included a number of high profile businesses
and properties.
Ana Lorena Brenes said that the deal with
the brothers gives them back a number of
assets, in trade for others which will be
kept by the state.
Brenes added that the deal signed with the
brothers was endorsed la Presidencia de la
República (the president's office). |
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