On leaving the Goicoechea (San Jose) courthouse on Tuesday, the president of Aldesa, Javier Chaves, rejected the charges presented against by the Ministerio Publico (Public Prosecutor) following the complaint of four clients and told the waiting press that “having liquidity problems is not the same as fraud.”
“The truth is going to come out and you will know about our innocence,” he said.
He stressed that he is confident that Aldesa will be restructured and move forward with the real estate projects.
“The investor already knows that the monies went into Aldesa and have been invested in real estate projects that, when they are liquidated, will be paid in an orderly manner to everyone. No one is going to lose their money,” he said.
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Chaves was arrested on Monday in Curridabat, in one of 12 raids conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ), including the main offices of Aldesa, the home of Chaves and members of his management team, the Sugeval (securities regulator) and Grupo Sama.
After spending the night in the courthouse jail cells, Chaves was arraigned Tuesday and released before 4 pm, with the condition that he cannot leave the country, sign in at the courthouse every two months and no contact with the four people who filed denuncias, while the Fiscalia continues its investigation,
Long Process
Chaves said that what is coming next is a long process as the investigation could take up to eight years due to its complexity, meanwhile Aldesa will continue to work to resolve its liquidity problem, working to have each of the (real estate) projects finished, liquidate them, cash out and pay the investors and creditors.
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“We could easily be in a situation in which we have paid (all the investors), when the criminal issues for which I am being investigated have yet to be resolved. This is known not to be a criminal issue, but to let us do the work that was requested to the (bankruptcy) court to be able to make the settlement and pay everyone,” said Chaves.
He referred to the process despite the fact that in May, the bankruptcy court rejected a 3-year plan. Chaves; however, he trusts that the Second Court of Civil Appeal of San José will accept it.
For him, it is paradoxical that they are accusing him of fraud if he went to a court to ask “that, with a magnifying glass, control each and every one of the actions we are going to take in the next three years,” he said.
Restructuring
According to the accused, Aldesa is going to have to be restructured. “We already started doing so, we closed the stock exchange, we now are in a period of closing the investment funds that have been the best-known business (of Aldesa),” he said.
However, he said they will continue with about nine real estate projects that make up 90% of the company.
He admitted that there were real estate companies that “did not do so well”, but, he insisted, it can not be generalized, as there are successful projects that had more than 500 sales and were stopped by the process, but guaranteed that if they are finished developing they will generate cash flow to make the payments to investors and creditors.
Chaves added that he has not stopped giving his face to the four clients who filed denuncias, despite their making improper use of criminal procedures to collect, but warned that they (four) will not get preferential payment to detriment of all others, that they have to take part before the bankruptcy courts.
Disproportionate detention
Chaves closed his remarks to the press to point out the excessive and disproportionate detention, of almost 24 hours, by the actions of the Prosecutor’s Office.
The businessman, on his release from the Goicoechea courthouse on Tuesday, was alone, not accompanied by his lawyer, Francisco Campos, the husband of the Fiscal General (Attorney General) Emilia Navas.
