The Public Ministry determined that the Head of the Department of Security of the Bank of Costa Rica (BCR), Monserrat Alfaro Valenciano, committed the crime of influence peddling in order to obtain information to provide it to Miguel Gerardo Muñoz Nanne, treasurer of the Muñoz & Nanne Corporation. Alfaro is a lawyer and works for the BCR and is the one who has been in charge, within the Bank, to investigate the cementazo.
Both Alfaro and Muñoz are accused by the Public Ministry of several crimes such as illicit enrichment, influence peddling and fraudulent administration.
In its conclusions, the Public Ministry indicated that as of 2011, Muñoz Nanne seized some certificates that are part of the family’s assets and passed them to limited liability companies. The certificates totaled a total of more than $3 million.
Muñoz Nanne was sentenced in 2015 to two years in prison for the crime of exploitation of an elderly person, since he made the transfers to his name taking advantage of his father.
The Office of the Public Prosecutor pointed out that by means of witnesses, emails and reports, influence peddling was established by Alfaro Valenciano in favor of Muñoz Nanne.
On February 3rd, 2012, the other Muñoz Nanne brothers, who also own the Muñoz & Nanne Corporation, decided to change the persons responsible for the signatures in the bank accounts of the company, as a result of their suspicion of several irregularities. A debt with the company True Value ignited alerts, in addition to the purchase of a vehicle. At that time they were unaware of the transfer of the certificates.
That same day, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Alfaro’s first call was made to an official of the Bank of Costa Rica at the San Pedro headquarters, requesting information on whether these changes were taking place in Miguel Gerardo Muñoz’s account. When he did not obtain what he was looking for, Alfaro consulted the BCR’s Current Accounts Investigation System.
In these situations, the head of the branch of San Pedro issued a directive that Alfaro was not to be given information via telephone. Muñoz Nanne then filed a complaint for violation of bank secrecy with the BCR. At that time, an investigation process was opened and Alfaro Valenciano was asked to refrain from inquiring about the case because of his closeness to the complainant and the lawyer of the company, who was her sentimental partner.
However, the head of security of the BCR ignored this and continued to receive information on the entire subject of the investigation. Then Monserrat Alfaro opened a savings account in the National Bank to receive large amounts of dollars from Muñoz Nanne.
The Prosecutor said that the deposits made by Muñoz Nanne to Alfaro Valenciano are not justified by his salary, and opening the account in the National Bank was a strategy to avoid suspicions in the Bank of Costa Rica.
From March to June 2012, Muñoz Nanne made 13 mortgage loans with a total of $ 1.3 million, which are part of one of the certificates taken from the father. The majority of these mortgages went to relatives of Alfaro Valenciano, according to the Public Ministry.