Costa Rica News – The General Superintendency of Financial Institutions, Sugef, has fined Scotiabank because it violated anti-money laundering regulations by failing to comply with the rules about legitimization of capital, in article 81 of Law No. 7,786, set in place to avoid funding terrorism.
The issue is related to money allegedly given as a bribe to the Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo. The sanction has not been executed because the bank filed an appeal with the National Council of Supervision of the Financial System, Conassif.
The private bank came into question over a year ago, when it came to light that $6.5 million of alleged bribes to Toledo were in Costa Rica in the account of the company Ecostate Consulting S.A., created in 2006 in San José. The company allegedly paid Toledo a $20 million bribe in exchange for winning a contract to build an Interoceanic highway between Peru and Brazil. The payments were made between 2006 and 2008. The case was investigated in Peru as well as by Sugef.
If a regulated entity is found to have failed to comply with the law, it can be fined with 0.5% to 2% of its assets. The bank’s current equity is ¢165,869 million.
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