COSTA RICA NEWS – The Procuraduría de la Ética (the Office of Ethics or state lawyer ) declared “confidential” the investigation against Pedro Castro, the Ministro de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT), deferring the report to Presidenta Laura Chinchilla.
The investigation centred on “possible ethical misconduct” in the performance of the minister Castro’s duties.
That is the word in a letter sent by the Procuraduría to legislator Walter Cespedes, who had filed one of two charges in the case.
“Producto de nuestra investigación preliminar se elaboró el informe Nº AEP-INF 001-2014 de las 8 horas, 5 minutos del veinticinco de abril del dos mil catorce, que le fue remitido a la señora Laura Chinchilla Miranda, presidenta de la República de Costa Rica, el cual posee carácter confidencial, por lo que no se le remite copia”, was the content of the letter that Cespedes has made public.
Translation: Product of our preliminary research the report No. AEP- INF 001-2014 at 8:0am on April 25, 2014 was sent to Mrs. Laura Chinchilla Miranda, President of the Republic of Costa, which is confidential, so that no copy can be sent you.
Additionally, the Procuraduría said that based on the Ley de Enriquecimiento Ilícito (Law on Illicit Enrichment) it declared confidential the identity of the complainants, information, documentation and other evidence.
The Procuraduría would only say that they investigated two separate cases in which the minister’s name was “repeated”.
The cases in reference are:
- 1. The controversy over the bidding process of the Consejo Nacional de Concesiones (CNC) in awarding the San José-San Ramón road rebuilding to the Brazilian company, OAS. The government cancelled the concession contract after a public outcry, with the government paying out millions of dollars in indemnification to the OAS.
- 2. The case was for the bidding of professional services for the geometric design, drafting of plans and paving of the border trail road, La Trocha, to the Asesora de Construcción e Ingeniería Sociedad Anónima (Cacisa).
Neither Gilberth Calderón, head of the Procuraduría de la Ética, nor minister Pedro Castro, have offered comment on the subject.
Source: Diario Extra
