Costa Rica News – It does not take much to put 2 and 2 together with this story. Especially when the Costa Rican woman behind it all is a manager at a sportsbook. The questions are now did the sportbook cover their tracks well enough and will the accused give the names of the big fish in order to cut a deal?
The below is translated from La Nacion.
Two companies of a 35 year old Costa Rican sportsbook manager reported revenue in bank accounts of $ 1,528 million in 2014. The account were located in Malta and the United Arab Emirates .
In colones, the figure is ¢ 825.000 million; the equivalent of 10% of the National Budget of the Government.
These accounts were closed by the BCR last November due to lack of information on the origin of resources. The treasurer and holder of Latco is the director of the National Bank, Jennifer Morsink.
According to an investigation by the BCR, corporations where the money to the controversial accounts are Woodtree Equipment Limited and Latitude Global FZE, located in Malta and United Arab Emirates respectively and whose majority shareholder is Marisol Carvajal Cordero.
BCR said it seemed “unusual” that Carvajal was a shareholder of the two companies from which the money came.
The profile did not match, according to the Bank, the socioeconomic profile of the manager does not fit with that of a person who handles hundreds of millions of dollars abroad. According to a report by the Ministry of Public Education (MEP), she obtained a high school degree in 1997.
Carvajal, as corroborated the Nation, is a manager at the sportsbook 5Dimes, which operates in in San Pedro de Montes de Oca.
5Dimes business name is Red Planet S. A., which is another company headed by Carvajal. The business also received money from Malta and Panama through bank transfers from Woodtree Equipment Limited, according to research by BCR.
As for companies located in Malta and Dubai (United Arab Emirates), there are no audited financial statements from 2014, when revenues of more than $ 1,500 million were reported.
Marisol Carvajal, meanwhile, borrowed, in Costa Rica for two mortgages totaling $ 241,000 (¢ 130 million) to build a house in San Rafael de Escazu, from a private bank.
In the loan documents, she was identified as “administrator” in 2006 and 2014.
Latco accounts are being investigated by the Public Prosecutor for the alleged crime of money laundering.They received $ 67 million over three years.
87% of the shares are Latco lawyer Manfred Pino and the rest of his wife.
Manfred Pino, owner of Latco, agreed to an interview, at a later date.
The above was translated from La Nacion.
