Businessman Juan Carlos Bolaños and former General Manager of Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) Mario Barrenechea, the two main defendants in the Cementazo corruption case, will remain in preventive custody for another six months.

Although the initial sentence of three months of preventive prison concluded this February 4, the Criminal Court of Heredia extended the sentence for another six months for Bolaños, Barrenechea, and two other BCR executives also linked to this case, Leonardo Acuña and Andrés Víquez.

Three other men, Marvin Corrales, GIlberth Barrantes and Rodrigo Ramírez, also executives of BCR were released for prison because the judges considered they “evidence showed they had less participation in the matters under investigation”, the District Attorney requested a change of their precautionary actions and they will not be able to leave the country, must have a fixed address, appear in court when required, sign every 15 days and cannot have any communication with witnesses or be within a radius of 1 kilometers of the offices where they used to work.

Juan Marcos Rivero, defense attorney of Bolaños, commented that he didn’t understand the decision of the court, since initially the position was that all parties involved acted in a collective way.

“If it was a collective decision, why are they letting three members of the committee free? Either they all stay or they all are set free”, expressed Rivero.

Bolaños is facing charges of embezzlement, influence peddling, criminal simulation and false accusation, while Barrenechea is being investigated for embezzlement.

Juan Carlos Bolaños is currently in the San Sebastian prison, while Mario Barrenechea is serving his sentence at the Senior Citizens Comprehensive Care Center (CAI).