COSTA RICA NEWS – The crime intelligence agency DIS has communicated to the national police their findings of alleged irregularities in the Ministry of Culture. This story was first aired on Radio Monumental and later confirmed to La Nacion by Chief Prosecutor Jorge Chavarria.
The agency, unlike most police agencies, reports directly to the Ministry of the Presidency. DIS director Mariano Figueres asked for a special meeting with Chavarria to reveal the testimony apparently of whistle blowers. Chavarria said that, since the evidence was all verbal, the investigative agency OIJ now will probe the case.
The procedure is standard for such cases, said Chavarria. DIS is a controversial agency that gathers information which it is charged with passing on to other law enforcement. Earlier this year, DIS came under fire from lawmakers for past alleged political witch hunts.
DIS director Figueres is also far from popular with many lawmakers and a bill is sitting in congress to disband the agency. Despite President Solis’s popularity, he came under heavy fire from his own and many opposition parties when he announced Figueres’s appointment as DIS director.