An American citizen seems to be the owner of the ¢ 40 million that the Public Prosecutor’s Office seized from the office of former legislator Otto Guevara Guth, according to a document presented by the lawyer of the former legislator before the Administrative and Civil Litigation Court of Treasury of the Second Judicial Circuit.
Federico Campos, Guevara’s attorney, indicated in the document that he filed with the Contentious Court that there is no link between Guevara and the money.
In the letter, which was made public by Guevara in his social networks, it is indicated that
the origin of such money was explained at the same moment by Mr. Jorge Araya Ross, owner of the GJE law firm where the search and seizure of the money was made. Also denying expressly any relation of my client with that money; but he did make it very clear that he had borrowed said safe from a client of his own, without ever imagining what he kept there.”
In the document, Guevara’s lawyer questions the actions of the General Prosecutor, Emilia Navas, and the Judge of Guarantees, since other sites and offices that were not authorized by the Third Chamber, which was commissioned, were inspected to give permission for the judicial proceedings because at that time Guevara was a legislator.
Jorge Araya Ross, lawyer who owns the GJE law firm, denied in a document also presented before the Contentious Court that he said he assumed responsibility for the money, because Guevara is the father of his nieces.
The issue falls off under its own weight because Otto only has one daughter, and I did not have to mention ‘nieces’, but what offends me most is that it makes me look as if I were paying a debt in a certain amount without being aware of the seriousness of the subject.”
In a process of Emerging Capitals denounced by the Deputy Prosecution of Money Laundering, the Contentious Court ruled as requested by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and ordered that, in favor of the Costa Rican State be made ¢ 39,410,000 , 00 of colones and US $ 4,900.00 , related to the former Otto Guevara.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, after the investigation and analysis of the case,
it is arrived at the conviction that there is sufficient basis to formulate a hypothesis in the sense that the money under examination lacks a legal cause that justifies its possession.”
Guevara has denied at all times being the owner of that money and even assures that he did not know of its existence. However, the Public Ministry confirmed that the criminal case against Guevara for money laundering remains open.