Q COSTA RICA — For the principal reason for lottery tickets, the former treasurer of the Banco Nacional de Costa Rica (BNCR) will spend the next 30 years behind bars for his role in the case known as “Gallo Tapado” (Hidden Rooster), the embezzlement of approximately ¢3.2 billion colones (about US$7.2 million).
On Thursday, August 27, 2026, the Criminal Court of the Second Judicial Circuit of San José found Ricardo Olivas Valle guilty of 33 counts of embezzlement and initially imposed a cumulative sentence of 330 years in prison. However, due to the application of the rules of concurrent sentencing, the sentence was reduced to 30 years in prison
In addition, the judges ordered that Olivas remain in pretrial detention for eight months while the sentence becomes final.
The ruling comes weeks after the Fiscalía Adjunta de Probidad, Transparencia y Anticorrupción (Fapta) — Deputy Prosecutor’s Office for Probity, Transparency, and Anti-Corruption — requested an even harsher sentence: 396 years in prison.
33 withdrawals between 2021 and 2023
The Public Prosecutor’s Office alleged that Olivas Valle made 33 cash withdrawals, not the from the bank’s ATM’s, but rather from the bank’s vaults, between 2021 and 2023, taking advantage of his position within the Banco Nacional and his access to the vaults at the bank’s headquarters in San José.
According to the prosecution, the cash withdrawals occurred primarily during the final minutes of the workday, between 4:16 p.m. and 5:29 p.m., when the number of people inside the bank decreased, and reduced vigilance to withdraw significant amounts of cash, using yellow manila envolpes stuffed with bundles of banknotes and passing through security on leaving the bank.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office stated that the former official bought large quantities of lottery tickets. When any of these numbers won, the money paid out by the national lottery, the Junta de Protección Social (JPS), was subsequently deposited into bank accounts.
During the raids carried out at Olivas’s home, authorities located approximately 3,000 lottery tickets.
The accused himself admitted during the court proceedings that he had had a gambling problem. “I was addicted to gambling at one point, specifically the lottery,” he declared in court.
Failures in Internal Controls
The trial also scrutinized the control mechanisms in place at the Banco Nacional during the years in which the thefts occurred.
According to the prosecution, thorough physical audits of the vaults had not been conducted since 2019, a circumstance that allegedly allowed the withdrawals to continue undetected for an extended period.
In addition to Olivas, other individuals were included in separate investigations for potential liability related to omissions, dereliction of duty, or cover-up. These included supervisors, accountants, security personnel, and former officials linked to the institution’s legal departments.
The Attorney General’s Office and the Banco Nacional itself also participated in the proceedings as prosecuting parties. The bank is seeking to recover the stolen funds.