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LIC. DAVID E. ROMERO MORA
CONSTITUTIONAL CHAMBER OF THE COSTA
RICAN SUPREME COURT (SALA
IV)
APPEAL FOR PROTECTION AGAINST
INFRINGEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
APPELLANT: JOHN MANNERS
APPEALEES:
LIC.
ALBERTO SOLANO CORDERO DIRECTOR OF THE
CENTER FOR CONCILIATION OF THE JUDICIAL
BRANCH, THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC
OF COSTA RICA, THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH, THE
SECURITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITY “SUGEVAL,”
THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY “INSTITUTO
DE CONTROL DE DROGAS”
AND THE
JUDICIAL BRANCH IN THE FIRST CIRCUIT
CRIMINAL COURT OF SAN JOSÉ - PUBLIC
DEFENDERS OFFICE – ATTORNEY GENERAL.
HONORABLE MAGISTRATES OF THE
CONSTITUTIONAL CHAMBER
I, JOHN MANNERS,
of legal age, having only one surname
due to United States citizenship, bearer
of U.S. passport No. 710686675, residing
in San José, Pavas, two hundred meters
south of the Santa Bárbara hardware
store, appear before the Honorable
Magistrates of the Constitutional
Chamber to file an Appeal for Protection
Against Infringement of Constitutional
Rights against the above mentioned
authorities of the Executive and
Judicial Branches of the Costa Rican
Government, and hereby do so based on
the following facts and right:
I.
Account of the facts:
1.
I am
one of over six thousand investors who
entrusted their funds to the Costa Rican
businessman Luis Enrique Villalobos
Camacho and were adversely affected by
the unlawful closure of the businesses
run by the Villalobos Brothers. I am a
member of an organization known as the
UCCR (United Concerned Citizens &
Residents). I am furnishing documents
dealing with the actual investment I
made, according to the mode of operation
that had been established with Mr.
Villalobos Camacho, which was guaranteed
through checks issued by him from the
investment made.
2.
Actually, in the specific case of myself
and the thousands of investors who
placed their trust in Luis Enrique
Villalobos Camacho, our investments were
consistently honored month after month
by interest payments made at the rate
agreed to. Over years of conducting his
business according to this mode of
operation and through a continual
contractual relationship, Luis Enrique
Villalobos Camacho, punctually paid me
the respective amounts in interest.
Likewise, he always offered me the
option of either returning me the
principal or continuing forward under
the established system of operation. I
REITERATE: I NEVER, AT ANY TIME,
BELIEVED THAT MY INVESTMENT WAS AT RISK,
AND I ALWAYS RECEIVED FROM IT THE RETURN
THAT WAS AGREED UPON AND OR NEGOTIATED.
3.
Due
to the events occurring on 4 July 2002,
which are common knowledge to many, the
Attorney General of the Republic of
Costa Rica carried out a series of raids
leading to the subsequent confiscation
and freezing of financial assets and of
the Villalobos Brothers’ business
accounts, thus encumbering the rights
and interests of the investors, among
them the undersigned appellant.
4.
Where did these funds end up? I do not
know. I understand that, without any
legal decision whatsoever, they were
sent by Prosecutor Walter Espinoza to
the
Instituto de Control de Drogas.
This very fact prevents those of us who
were the legitimate owners of these
funds from exercising our constitutional
rights pursuant to paragraphs 27 and 41
of the Costa Rican Constitution, and
from filing our complaints, thus
breaking Law No. 7786 (the law governing
narcotics) which establishes the need to
inform the group of individuals who may
have an interest in moneys confiscated
and to assert it before the appropriate
authorities. Yet this is not what
actually happened.
5.
In
May 2007, Mr. Oswaldo Villalobos Camacho
was sentenced to 18 years in jail for
Prolonged Aggravated Fraud and for the
criminal offense of Illegal Financial
Intermediation. This sentence ABSOLVES
Mr. Villalobos of all penalty and
responsibility for the criminal offense
of MONEY LAUNDERING for which he
was being accused all along. (Sentence
No. 435-2007 handed down at 3:00 p.m. on
2 May 2007 by the First Circuit Criminal
Court of San José, Case No.
02-008579-0042-PE).
6.
As
of today, seven years, eight months and
eleven days have gone by since that
decision, during which I have lived
through great suffering while finding no
remedy through the Costa Rican judicial
system. True, I am a foreign citizen,
but rule nineteen of the Costa Rican
Political Constitution stipulates:
“…Article 19. Foreigner citizens have
the same individual and social
responsibilities and rights as Costa
Ricans, with the exceptions and
limitations that this Constitution and
laws establish…”
7.
It
is not my intention to discuss a matter
here that is being pursued before the
contentious jurisdiction of this country
by hundreds of investors who, like
myself, have been thwarted by the Costa
Rican justice system, but I am seeking
protection of my constitutional rights
involving an offense which, due to its
ongoing nature and because it violates
my financial and constitutional
interests, I request swift resolution
from the honorable Magistrates of the
Constitutional Chamber on the protection
of said rights; the offense is as
follows:
8.
Several news media have announced an
alleged distribution of moneys among a
group of investors who participated as
civil plaintiffs in a case against the
aforementioned Oswaldo Villalobos
Camacho. These moneys are part of the
pool of financial resources described
above, confiscated from and frozen for
businesses connected with the Villalobos
Camacho Brothers. They are therefore
part of the pool of resources that
belong, IN EQUAL SHARES, to every one of
the six thousand plus investors who, in
one form or another, were involved in
the deals, agreements or contracts made
with the aforementioned businesses. The
undersigned believes, with all due
respect, that no authority, political or
judicial, may order the handling of
moneys that it does not own, nor are
they part of or the result of activities
(which could authorize handling of this
kind) such as “Money Laundering,” of
which Mr. Villalobos Camacho was
absolved. This would constitute, as I do
hereby claim, a violation of the
principle of legality and, therefore, of
due process.
9.
As I
state above, it is not before this
authority that I shall discuss the
illegalities of various administrative
and procedural actions that were taken
throughout the entire process involving
the case of the Villalobos Brothers;
this is already being addressed through
contentious jurisdiction. But the act of
ordering the distribution of moneys that
are part of a pool of financial
resources belonging to a group of
investors, of which I belong, as borne
out by the documentation I am providing,
violates my constitutional rights, even
though I am a foreign citizen since, I
repeat, this country’s Constitution
affords me protection to assert my
rights.
10.
Today, honorable magistrates, eight
years, nine months and nine days
following the actions taken that
thousands of foreign nationals and Costa
Rican citizens consider from every
standpoint to be illegal, unjustified,
imprudent and in violation of due
process, I continue to await the return
of Mr. Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho,
a businessman in whom I have trusted,
and continue to trust, with whom I
entrusted my funds, and who efficiently,
honestly and safely observed month by
month payment to me of interest on the
investment that I made. The obstacles
that the Costa Rican Government has put
in my way for many years have prevented
him from returning to meet his
commitments, but once these obstacles
expire, I am sure that, and he has
assured us accordingly, that he will
return to honor his commitments. But I
cannot afford to remain silent or still
in the face of the aberrant step taken
by the Government of Costa Rica, by a
Judge, or by outside forces unbeknownst
to me (though I believe that they are
have been acting all along during these
events) of handling my money and that of
thousands of investors, which we
entrusted to the businessman Mr. Luis
Enrique Villalobos Camacho, which were
confiscated and frozen and are part of
one pool of resources belonging to a
group that is being “terrorized” by the
decisions being made. How are these
moneys, which equally belong to
thousands of investors, among them the
undersigned, being managed? Are a few
individuals who did not even invest any
of their own money going to capitalize
on this, partaking in the “piñata” (pot,
sweepstakes) of their lives? Are
lawyers, paralegals, arbitrators,
prosecutors, public defenders, all
participating in a “piñata” with other
people’s money, mine included? Moreover,
once the obstacles placed by Government
of Costa Rica upon the businessman Luis
Enrique Villalobos Camacho expire, will
these moneys be claimed by him and
belong to the pool of financial
resources that will allow him to make
good on his commitments and bring them
up to date with each one of us? Hence,
my economic future is compromised by the
handling of moneys (of which I am
co-owner) that is taking place or has
already taken place.
11.
According to information published in
the 1 March 2010 edition Vol. 10, Nº 41
of the “A.M. Costa Rica third newspage,”
Alberto Solano Cordero, a Judge who
oversaw a conciliation process, approved
distribution of US$ 20,288,034.96 that
is part of the pool of financial
resources, moneys, and other securities
confiscated from businesses connected
with the Villalobos Camacho Brothers,
but I repeat, with all due respect to
this country’s authorities, which I
understand is a social state based on
the rule of law: How can they make a
piñata out of moneys that do not belong
to them, that are part of the pool of
resources that I, John Manners, am
co-owner? I have at no time ever
authorized anyone to handle my
resources.
12.
Moreover, I wish to draw the honorable
magistrates’ attention to the fact that
to date LUIS ENRIQUE VILLALOBOS CAMACHO,
the individual with whom I invested my
funds, has yet to be sentenced, nor can
he even be considered a fugitive
criminal, because he has been termed
defendant not present, since he
was never notified of having been
accused in any lawsuit whatsoever. So,
if I invested my resources with him and
they were confiscated as part of a
generalized pool of moneys and other
securities due to acts or provisions of
the Costa Rican Government, who would be
legally authorized to dispose of those
resources? The undersigned appellant
contends that nobody, no political or
judicial authority may do so, or is it
the case, then, that we do not truly
live in a country based on the rule of
law.
13.
We
are told that there is a process known
as Enforcement of Judgment (Case No.
02-008579-042-PE) which is carried out
in the Judicial Branch’s Center for
Conciliation, but I am not a party to it
and therefore have no access to it, I
have no recourse to the judicial decrees
handed down there and this is because I
was not a party to the main process, or
a plaintiff or civil plaintiff against
Oswaldo Villalobos Camacho, because I
have no complaint to make against Mr.
Oswaldo Villalobos Camacho, because I
had no negotiations or contracts or
investments with him. I repeat, I
invested and negotiated with Mr. Enrique
Villalobos Camacho, a person with whom I
continue to trust and I understand that
the delay in meeting his commitment with
me is through no fault of his own, but
instead because he has been obliged by
absurd, illegal, and unconstitutional
circumstances and actions caused and
taken in due course by the Costa Rican
authorities and that their effects in
force to this day prevent my business
and investment counterparty, Mr. Enrique
Villalobos Camacho, from paying what he
owes me, as he had always done, month to
month, in a responsible honest fashion.
14.
I
wish to reiterate, honorable
Magistrates, that I have no intention of
settling matters outside the area of
constitutional law. These I am already
bringing up with the Contentious
Jurisdiction together with hundreds of
investors, but actions announced or that
are being taken under the auspices of
this country’s jurisdictional and
political authorities flagrantly violate
my constitutional rights, affect my
assets and those of my family, and
adversely affect this country’s
reputation. I am attaching
correspondence sent to my country’s
newly appointed Ambassador to Costa
Rica, in which I relate the pain and the
feelings of frustration I have
experienced due to the actions taken by
the authorities of this country with
regard to our problem.
LAW
Political
Constitution: Article 19, 27, 41 et seq.
and related provisions.
In view
of all the foregoing, I request:
1.
That
this Appeal for Protection Against
Infringement of Constitutional Rights be
upheld.
2.
That
immediate rectification be ordered of
the appealees for the juridical or
administrative actions giving rise to
the violations indicated herein.
3.
That
immediate suspension be ordered, if
taking place, of the “Piñata”
distribution of moneys belonging to the
pool of resources confiscated from
businesses connected with the Villalobos
Camacho Brothers.
4.
That
a request be made of the Trial Court, or
the First Circuit Criminal Court of San
José of Case No. 02-008579-0042-PE),
establishing the legitimacy of those
participating in the “Piñata”
distribution as sole proprietors of the
confiscated pool of resources.
5.
That
the appealees be ordered to pay damages.
NOTIFICATIONS: Those of my client at Fax
No. 2251-2891.
I request
that it be provided.
San José,
15 March 2010.
JOHN
MANNERS
Grupo UCCR
www.ticostuff.com/uccr
uccr@ticostuff.com |