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Villalobos
Asset Freeze Extended;
Osvaldo Villalobos arrested
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Extension is for six more months
A judge ordered a six-month
preventive prison term for Osvaldo Villalobos,
after he was arrested on Wednesday morning on
charges of money
laundering, fraud and illegal financial
intermediation, according to judicial
spokeswoman Sandra Castro.
On Tuesday, Osvaldo and Luis Enrique
Villalobos were both summoned for the next day at 8 a.m.
to appear at the Justice building to meet
prosecutors, where Osvaldo
was detained shortly after he presented
himself on Wednesday. Luis Enrique Villalobos
failed to appear.
According to the prosecutor's
office, Osvaldo
is being charged with violating the Central
Bank's Organic Law and was ordered by a judge
the following day to
six months preventive prison.
The prosecutors have also requested an arrest warrant for Luis
Enrique, but it has not yet been approved by
the judge.
The detention is the latest in a series of
steps judicial authorities took this week that
indicates they are stepping up their
investigation into the Villalobos brothers'
business dealings.
On Tuesday, a judge extended for six
months a freeze on the Villalobos' business
accounts, despite the organized peaceful protest
outside the prosecutor's offices by more than 100 mostly-foreign investors.
"We don't feel like
hearing rumors and speculation," protest
organizer Michael Nystrom-Schut - member of
the United Concerned Citizens, Residents and
Friends of Costa Rica (UCCRFCR) - yelled
through a megaphone. "We want
answers."
But Nystrom's appeals - in
English - for Espinoza to "come down and
talk to us" went unanswered.
The gathered were
reassured by a message supposedly from the
leader himself, Luis Enrique Villalobos,
stating, "Everything will be all
right." Nystrom believes the message is
genuine and would not reveal how the message
was sent, other than it was obtained by a
"close friend of Enrique".
The message was short.
"Have a little patience."
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