QCOSTARICA – The Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas (ICD) – Costa Rican Institute on Drugs – indicated that, in the coming days, it will issue an administrative resolution to “intensify” the immediate freezing measures of assets to combat money laundering; even before reporting a suspicious transaction.
In 2022, the ICD received 718 reports of doubtful transactions in the country for more than ¢222 billion colones (US$400 million dollars).
Of the total number of reports, 290 served as a basis for the Financial Intelligence Unit to send a report to the Prosecutor’s Office to carry out its particular investigation.
Ewald Acuña, criminal lawyer, commented that it is a precautionary measure that gives the Prosecutor’s Office time to verify if a crime has been committed.
The ICD called on the regulated and non-regulated financial sector to report suspicious operations of ill-gotten money.