COSTA RICA NEWS – 26 of the 117 government vehicles President Luis Guillermo Solis reported lost in “100 days” report are still missing and the central government owes the state insurer, the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS), ¢6.983.259 colones of the 2014 Marchamo (circulation permit).
As explained by the legal director at Casa Presidencial (Presidency), Marvin Carvajal, once a vehicle is unregistered the State can request an exemption and pay the symbolic ¢1 colon for each vehicle. The procedure is available when the owner knows the vehicle is no longer in circulation. To the contrary, every registered vehicle must pay the for the Marchamo.
The missing vehicles are still registered, but the government doesn’t know where they are – if they are in circulation or not, only thing for sure is that on 21 of the 26 vehicles the Marchamo has not been paid for more than two decades.
Since the President’s report, 68 of the 117 vehicles were found to have been unregistered by the previous administration, records indicating that the vehicles had reached their useful life. What is troubling is that although the vehicles were unregistered, the Chinchilla Miranada administration did not know the whereabouts of the vehicles.
The current administration is continuing its investigation. Carvajal said that a detailed report is expected within two months.
