QCOSTARICA – Emilia Navas will not be removed from her position as attorney general, after calls for her to step down due to her removing herself in high profile cases, the latest in the “caso Cochinilla”, that prompted a judicial review.
On Monday, the Corte Suprema de Justicia (Supreme Court of Justice) cided tonight not to investigate or remove Navas.
After a marathon session of more than ten hours, 16 magistrates opposed her exit or preliminary investigation of her, because there are no internal regulations that sanction her alleged misconduct.
The magistrates met to hear several complaints from the unions of the judiciary against Navas, for an alleged influence peddling.
Since Navas took office in October 2018, she has been barred from nine investigations for a potential conflict of interest, including four major scandals.
The payment of alleged bribes in the awarding and construction of millionaire public works contracts, known as the “Cochinilla” case, is the latest corruption investigation that the prosecutor will not carry out directly.
Her stepping aside from leading the investigations in the Cochinilla case is that her spouse Francisco Campos Aguilar is a high-profile defense lawyer, in this latest case, hired by one of the companies, H Solís, investigated for crimes such as bribery, use of false documents, embezzlement, and influence peddling, among others.
Navas’ relationship with her husband also made her separate from the Aldesa case, where a group of investors claims a failed investment from businessman Javier Chaves, who is defended by Campos Aguilar.
In total there are eight cases from which Navas separated herself.
In the “Cochinilla” case, which the prosecution and the OIJ have been investigating since 2018, Navas asserted that she learned of the raids on the same Monday, as did the entire country and that she had even asked for leave that day.