Salud
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Money To Pay For
Helicopter Came From The UAE and Turkey
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of Crashed Helicopter
San José -
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Money To Pay
For Helicopter Came From The UAE and Turkey
$398.968 was the amount paid to Regis
Charles Moreau, owner of the White House
hotel, for the sale of the helicopter TI-BBT,
that crashed last Friday in the area known
as El Cerro de la Muerte and carrying some
395 kilos of cocaine.
Carlos Ibarra, lawyer for Moreau, explained
that the money came from banks in Turkey and
the United Arab Emirates, paid to an account
held by Moreau in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The lawyer did not give details of who made
the payments, saying only that he and his
client do not know who are the owners of the
bank accounts where the money came from.
"I will be looking into it, as it is part of
my job", said Ibarra.
Moreau reportedly negotiate the sale of the
aircraft last March, for us$500.000, with an
Alterra Partners employee, Janelle Arias and
Aviación mechanic, Simón Céspedes, according
to a report in the Spanish language daily,
La Nación, on Thursday.
The daily reports that Arias denied having
paid for the aircraft and Céspedes did not
return calls to their calls.
Arias has been working with Alterra Parners,
the manager of the Juan Santamaría (San
Jose) airport, since 2001 and since 2004 as
an administrative supervisor at the airport
terminal.
Alterra informed yesterday that they had
temporarily suspended Arias, waiting out the
results of an investigation.
The crashed aircraft is owned by Grecem MRJ
S.A. and Cosri Holding INC., of which Moreau
is the owner of the corporations. The sales
contract was dated March 20 of this year and
shows the purchase was to be paid for in
four installments, the first being on April
2 for $133.000. Two payments of $133.000 and
$44.000 followed on April 20 and 28,
respectively. All payments came from the
Turkiye Garanti Bankasi A.S. bank in Turkey
and the Arab Bank for Investment & Trade in
the United Arab Emirates.
Ibarra added that the original agreement was
that the payments would come from a bank in
Panama and paid to the BAC San Jose account
held by Grecem.
Janelle Arias told La Nación on Wednesday
that she lent her name for the signature of
the promise of sale, at the request of Edgar
Arguedas, the pilot that died in the crash
with the helicopter.
Arias also told the La Nación that she also
worked for Grecem, as a flight controller
for the crashed helicopter.
The helicopter TI-BBT, piloted by Arguedas,
crashed last Friday while on a flight from
the Southern zone to the Pochotel in
Turrialba. Dying in the crash was also the
Mexican national identified as Germán Trejo
Retamoz.
Authorities believe the aircraft met foul
weather, common in the area, and the
overweight of the illegal drugs caused the
pilot to lose control and crash. |
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