As we said he would, he did. This morning, former minister of the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT), Francisco Jiménez, arrived at the San José airport saying he is back to clarify everything in the case of the trail border road known as La Trocha.
Jiménez, in a statement to the press, said he left the country on a planned vacation with his family. He had left for Mexico last Tuesday, one day ahead of the arrest of six, including CONAVI officials (a division of the MOPT), on corruption charges.
Jiménez is not considered as suspect in the corruption case. Howver, Attorney General, Jorge Chavarria, was adamant to know the whereabouts of the former minister and had asked INTERPOL (see story) to locate him and ordered his officials not to take action until today, awaiting the return of Jiménez.
The trail road was built along the border with Nicaragua in response to the alleged invasion by Nicaragua of the Isla Calero, a piece of land Costa Rica considers hers.
The road construction sparked controversy when it became public that millions of dollars of tax money went to line the pockets of government offcials and private contractors. Last week were the first arrests in the case after months of investigations.