For banks in Canada, what happens offshore stays offshore. Scotiabank offices raided in Costa Rica. Ombudswoman Taitelbaum sentenced to nine years in prison.

For banks in Canada, what happens offshore stays offshore.  Rafael A. Vilagut, MBA rafael.vilagut@ucr.ac.cr 

Scotiabank scandals in the World and in Costa Rica.  

Scotiabank | Office of the President, August 29, 2019.  "Dear Mr. Vilagut,

Further to your follow-up email of August 26, we understand a response has been provided to you by our international partners of Costa Rica regarding your concerns. A further review of this matter has led our office to support the decision of our international partners.

While we understand this was not the outcome you were hoping for, we appreciate this final opportunity to respond to your concern.

Sincerely, Rajesh Samaroo | Manager, Customer Concerns | Office of the President | Operations and Corporate Services."  

Diego Masola es un migrante argentino Gerente General de Scotiabank en Costa Rica.  Foto La República (Costa Rica).

As a Venezuelan and Spaniard customer in Costa Rica who is offended by abusive and harassing efforts in July and August 2019 by the authorities of the Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) in: Toronto Main Office (email harassment) Costa Rica Office General Management and Trust (harassment by email) Office of Colombia CALL CENTER (harassment by phone calls to relatives in Costa Rica), I am obliged to share evidence of how the Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) has historically abused against employees, executives, clients, in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central American countries such as Costa Rica.

If no action is taken against the Bank of Nova Scotia Branch of Costa Rica, in a context where specialized sovereign debt risk companies have classified Costa Rica as C +, non-investment, and contraction of the Costa Rican economy, it is possible that international banks such as Scotiabank and local public banks of the Costa Rican State abuse their clients and related parties. In Costa Rica there are 400,000 Nicaraguans, and it is the second country in America to accept migrants, so it will not only affect citizens of Costa Rican nationality, but also more than 200,000 English, Canadians, Mexicans and Americans, among many other nationalities.

The Scotiabank can be denounced for violating several local laws such as data protection (Agencia de Protección de Datos de los Habitantes PRODHAB), or Canadian (The Canadian Human Rights Commission’s) as Canadian Human Rights Act discriminating against and treating Central American citizens differently from Canadians.

The interest rates charged for the use of the credit cards represented by the Canadian bank in Costa Rica are absurd, too high compared to the credit card rates charged in Canada, the United States or Europe, so The intervention of the Costa Rican Congress (Carlos R. Benavides) has been requested to correct this credit card regulation in Costa Rica, which allows foreign banks to enrich themselves unlimitedly while discriminating against Costa Rican clients.

Maru Oropesa and Scotiabank: Murder and the Money Trail in Mexico - the fifth estate

https://youtu.be/pBhrqjEqGZY

When Maru Oropesa was found in a roadside ditch outside Mexico City, it seemed like just another murder – one of tens of thousands of violent killings in Mexico each year. But the victim was in fact the hard-working mother of two and the branch manager for Canadian-owned Scotiabank. The death of Maru Oropesa revealed the risks that Canadian banks and their employees face in one of the most corrupt countries in the world. From one murder in Mexico, the fifth estate’s Bob McKeown follows the money trail to secret accounts in Switzerland, and into the underworld of Mexican money laundering.

The official fraud investigations would eventually uncover more than 14 million dollars missing from Scotiabank accounts in Mexico and more than 16 employees involved at almost all levels of the bank - including a cashier, a manager, and even a vice-president. But the murder of the branch manager remained unsolved. Knowingly or not, did the bank’s actions help or hinder her murder investigation? In the episode of Feliz y Saludable as per today, McKeown speaks to her family and the Mexican former chief prosecutor in the case to untangle the web of criminal activity that led to Maru Oropesa death.

Read more CBS article, Scotiabank manager’s death probe reveals multimillion-dollar fraud.

Wrongful dismissal lawsuit.

David Berry filed a $100M wrongful dismissal lawsuit against Scotiabank.

Financial Post, https://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/scotiabank-david-berry-settle-100-million-near-10-year-long-lawsuit

Unpaid overtime lawsuit.

2014 The lawsuit included 16,000 Scotiabank employees across Canada who worked as personal banking officers, senior personal banking officers, financial advisors, and small business account managers from January 1, 2000, to December 1, 2013. The Star, https://www.thestar.com/business/economy/2014/08/12/ontario_court_approves_settlement_deal_for_unpaid_overtime_at_scotiabank.html

Offices Raided in Costa Rica.

2019, declaraciones de Diego Masola del 20 de febrero de 2019, estamos aquí para quedarnos. La Nacion (Costa Rica, 25 de febrero de 2019) https://www.nacion.com/economia/banca/vicepresidente-de-scotiabank-estamos-aqui-para/NK6U463B7ZFV7BZP6XSG3OFXY4/story/ 

2019 Costa Rica, Fiscalía Allana Oficinas en Costa Rica, El Ministerio Publico indicó que tuvo que allanar ante la negativa del Banco de entregar información, https://www.nacion.com/sucesos/judiciales/fiscalia-allana-oficinas-centrales-de-scotiabank/BY2K6HRGWFCD5IQBGHVHP4NR64/story/

2019 Costa Rica, https://www.nacion.com/economia/scotiabank-paga-multa-de-1171-millones-por/U77AX5PL7NFX7EIZT5FZJ4XD7I/story/

Allanan oficinas de Scotiabank en Costa Rica por caso Toledo - 10 minutos Edición Noche, https://youtu.be/aoPXTNGXiuo

Alberto Font The Tico Times.

Costa Rica, despite being a rule of law, is a country where justice takes a long time but today, August 29, 2019, the news is that former Ombudswoman (Defensora de los Habitantes), Ofelia Taitelbaum Yoselewich, was sentenced to nine years in prison by the Criminal Court of Goicoechea, San Jose, for use of a false document and for breaking the laws, which must be the same for all citizens.

The Tico Times, July 7, 2014, Costa Rica’s ombudswoman resigns amid tax fraud probe.  August 29, 2019. Former Ombudswoman Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison. Former Ombudswoman (Defensora de los Habitantes), Ofelia Taitelbaum, was sentenced to nine years in prison by the Criminal Court of Goicoechea, San Jose, for use of a false document.

The next Ombudswoman MSc Montserrat Solano Carboni, also resigned from her position, and the current Catalina Crespo Sancho, PhD is likely to resign soon because she is accused of a crime of prevarication for not defending the interests of the Venezuelan inhabitants students of the University of Costa Rica (Act 3740, Costa Rica-Venezuela 1966), which Rector Dr. Henning Jensen Pennington recklessly violates from 2015 to 2019.