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Monday
17 March 2003
Is this the end?
By: J. Duke
Moseley
To: Mr. Luis
Enrique Villalobos Camacho's Friend's
• Penal Court
Judge: Francisco Sanchez
(same one who ordered the raid of July 4th and the
Freeze)
• Drug Prosecutor:
Walter Espinoza Espinoza
• O.I.J. Financial
Crimes Division Under boss: Manuel Roldan, C.P.A.
• S.U.G.E.F.
Superintendent: Mr. Bernardo Alfaro
• Osvaldo
Villalobos Camacho: Other half of the "Brothers"
• Dream Team
Lawyer: Mr. Garcia, J.D.
According to
Costa Rican Law (if it exists) , a prisoner who is under preventive detention
has a right to a revision of his "pre-ventive" detention at the
"half way mark" of his preventive detention. So using this
guideline, Osvaldo Villalobos Camacho , having served 3 of 6 months
of "pre-ventive" detention, had a hearing last week to see if would
be set free.
Actually there
was a "big scare" because the "star" witness did not
appear the day he was supposed too and the "hearing" was
canceled. The "star" witness was Bernardo Alfaro , the S.U.G.E.F.
Superintendent. The Judge allowed the hearing to be rescheduled for the
next week and everyone held their breath. No one knew for sure, what his
testimony was going to be, or even if he would show for the big
date.
Mr. Alfaro
showed and to the delight of the "defense" and the disgust of the
"State" his testimony was exactly as the "technical"
version stated.
Here are some of
the most relevant statements from Mr. Alfaro:
- Due to
various complaints by Banks, the SUGEF had initiated an internal
investigation into the finances of the Villalobos Investment Grupo (VIG).
- They had not
been able to "find" conclusive evidence of "illegal financial
intermediation" because the "law" clearly defines that there
are specific "requisites" that have to be fulfilled in order to
accuse someone of this crime. It is not sufficient to comply with only some
but not all of the requisites.
- Mr.. Alfaro
explained to the Judge, the difference between "captivating" money
and "being an intermediary". Captivation is legal and is not a
crime in and of itself. For some reason no one that works for the
"State" had been able to understand the difference and for the
first time , it seems the Judge and Prosecutor finally did.
- They had not
found any evidence of "money laundering".
- They had not
found any evidence of any type of wrong doing by the V.I.G. (Villalobos
Investment Group).
- At one Point
the Judge , asked Mr.. Alfaro what he thought should be done about this
situation.
To the amazement
of everyone, the Prosecutor Mr.. Espinoza sat in silence and did not challenge
any of the testimony offered by Mr. Alfaro. In fact the only challenge
offered by the State came from a member of the O.I.J. Financial Crimes
Division , Mr. Roldan, who asked, Mr. Alfaro;
O.I.J. :
"Mr. Alfaro, was it not true that the OFINTER MONEY EXCHANGE COMPANY,
was only a front for, Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho's operations?" (the
term used for "front" in Spanish is "mampara".)
Mr.
Alfaro:
"No. They were two fully functional independent operations. Ofinter was
fully regulated. Luis Enrique's business was totally independent."
So, with the way
things went down in the court room that day and the fact that the Judge took
(5) days the only logical conclusion was that Osvaldo Villalobos Camacho, was
going to be set free.
Sadly, Judge
Sanchez, saw things differently.
So the question
on everyone's mind is , where do we go from here? Is everything lost?
The answer to
that question is , NO. Remember, Osvaldo's original preventive detention order
was for 6, not 3 months. I thought that Osvaldo was going to be devastated by
the news of the Judges ruling, but I got it from good sources that Osvaldo
took the news like a man. I am also happy to report that , Osvaldo is now
taking a HANDS ON approach to his legal case, he will now be more actively
involved in the case more than he was ever before.
Happily there
are many legal maneuvers and other BIG events going on as you read this.
I am not at liberty to say what they are at this point and time. I can tell
you that they are all POSITIVE. If they work out, it will be a
"bang" that will be heard and read around the world.
These are
exciting times and I can assure you when many people think that Osvaldo and
Enrique are going to lay down and say, "I give up", they and you are
going to be in for a big surprise! The "brothers" are not
going anywhere and they are not giving up or giving in.
I can hear the
ring side bell ringing as you read this, Enrique Villalobos is not finished
yet, and the crew, I hang with is not either.
On behalf of us, (Rainer, Hank, Mike, Gold and
myself) we feel sorry for the other team, don't you?
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