Maurice Sjerps (standing right) at a 2011 tennis tournament of the Dutch Association of Costa Rica. On the left, then Dutch ambassador Matthijs van Bonzel.
Maurice Sjerps, one of the principals of the Panama based Sustainable Capital Group (formerly Silva Tree), was already facing legal trouble before being arrested on December 13th of last year on charges of fraud and embezzlement, Bananama Republic has learnt.
According to case number 10-028671-1012-CJ, judge Adriana Sequeira Muñoz, on November 8 2012, ordered an auction of various assets of Mr. Sjerps in a case brought by Banco de Costa Rica for defaulting on a mortgage.
The public announcement of the decision was made in the Costa Rican Boletín Judicial on November 28th. The bulletin can be downloaded here. On auction - held in January of this year - was, according to the document:
Finca inscrita en el Registro Público, Partido de Guanacaste, sección de propiedad, bajo el sistema de Folio Real, matrícula número 2761-M-000 la cual es terreno con un condominio compuesto por seis fincas filiales de una planta cada una destinada a uso habitacional en proceso de construcción.
And they were asking 321,459,028.00 CRC, which is about USD 642,918.00.
As far as we know, Maurice Sjerps himself was in custody when that auction took place. He was arrested, together with an accomplice, on charges of fraud and embezzlement in yet another scam, Global Green Services.
Ironically, Sjerps is one of the complainants who filed a criminal case against your reporter for "crimes against the honor". In the case, he claims that calling his activities "fraudulent" is criminal defamation.