March 28, 2016
Costa Rican authorities believe that $47.5 million has been laundered specifically through Malta as part of an online betting company’s money-laundering scam.
According to investigators in the Central American country, the funds were laundered through a company registered in Valletta, while the website of the online betting operation from which the funds were allegedly laundered (5Dimes) is also registered in Malta – in San Gwann, to be precise.
Ongoing investigations by the Costa Rican authorities into a massive money-laundering operation are placing Malta at centre stage after the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) raised the alarm that something was not right with the fact that the Maltese company, Woodtree Equipment Ltd, recorded virtually untraceable revenues of $1,444 billion and expenses of $1.282 billion in 2014.