Government bank flouted lending rules

The granting of credits by Caja de Ahorros for the construction of the Amador convention center violated the bank’s internal policies as there was no way to ensure the loan would be paid.

The  irregularities were uncovered in an investigation into the loans by the first anti-corruption prosecutor Tania Sterling.

According to the prosecutor, the system for delivering the $9 million in loans to the consortium HPC Contratas-P&V, S.A. was flawed.

In the document that the prosecutor prepared to seek permission to question former bank Chairman Riccardo Francolini, Sterling claimed that the loans “involved more than one exception (to the policies) and constituted a fraudulent conduct,” reports La Prensa

The newspaper tried to contact Carlos Carrillo, the lawyer for Francolini, to ask him about the allegations of the but he did not respond.

The Public Ministry plans to send a request this week to the Electoral Tribunal  to suspend the immunity of Felipe Virzi, a former vice president of the country, so that he can be questioned about the case.

Shell companies
Virzi has been connected to the consortium through shell companies that owned accounts where some of the money from the loan ended up.

He is also one of the 14 members of Ricardo Martinelli’s “Zero Circle” who recently walked away from money laundering charges after a controversial court decision which is being appealed.

Sterling is also expected to question Manuel Morales, the president of HPC, who has not yet appeared in the case.