Final Decision of the Supreme Court

 

 The completed final opinion of the Supreme Court was made available on Friday, July 19th.

 It is a lengthy document, full of detail, and containing no surprises.  It does not present any fundamental changes from the Court opinion released on June 3rd.  The opinion is under review by the defense attorneys.  The Court rejected all of their arguments.

 The defense attorneys plan to submit a request to the tribunal (trial court) asking for clarification of how the accusation of fraud was interpreted in arriving at a conviction.  They also plan to request the same court to provide written certification that Osvaldo was found not guilty of money laundering.

With this pronouncement by the Supreme Court, the case of Osvaldo is officially closed. There are no remaining legal options available to him. The case could only be reopened if new and compelling evidence were to be produced.

In anticipation of this verdict, we began some time ago to consider other alternatives that might lead to success in achieving a return of investor money.  Mention was made in our last message to investors of two possibilities that offered promise.

The first of these was to file an appeal with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights claiming violation by the Costa Rican government of investors’ human rights.  After exploring this possibility with legal counsel specialized in this field, we have abandoned this option for several reasons:

1. The Commission would not even look at the case until it could be demonstrated that all legal remedies available to investors within the Costa Rican judicial system had been exhausted. (At present, only those investors who filed claims of fraud have taken the first step in a process that could take years to complete.)

2. There is no convincing evidence to prove that investors’ rights were violated. (Osvaldo, on the other hand, might have a strong case because he has gone the distance with the system, and there are piles of data indicating the abuse of his rights.)

The second possibility – a negotiated settlement - has been the focus of our attention for some time now.  As you know, the Milanes case has broken ground here, and we continue to monitor that case closely for obvious reasons.

Many of you have stated to us that this approach should have merit for the Brothers as well – and we agree.  Please accept the fact that we are still working on your behalf and that revealing details prematurely could well jeopardize the success of our efforts.

 If this message plays like a broken record, we can understand why.  As stated before, we welcome your thoughts, suggestions and complaints.  We read them and at times we act upon them, so keep them coming.  But please respect the fact that we cannot respond to each one personally.

 

Thank you.

 

Grupo UCCR
www.ticostuff.com/uccr
uccr@ticostuff.com