Costa Rica News – Following an alert about Alunasa, 7 Costa Rican banks are taking action. The General Superintendency of Financial Institutions (Sugef) has required that they implement actions mitigating the risks of money laundering and financing of terrorism.
The original warning came from the US Department of the Treasury on May 18 and referenced “alleged money laundering” at the Alunasa aluminum products factory which is in Costa Rica.
All entities supervised the Sugef are required to verify if among their clients are persons indicated in the Office of Foreign Assets Controls’ list. They must report active and passive operations of those people to Sugef and the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Costa Rican Institute on Drugs.
Communicating the actions of clients in such conditions helps to mitigate the corresponding risks and protect the national banking system.
In this case, following information that the company was being used to legitimize monty from illegal activities, the Banco Nacional activated protocols to close all four accounts that Alunasa had there as well as two registered to its president.