SANTA CRUZ MAYOR SUSPENDED, INVESTIGATION CONTINUES

By Beach Times Staff

The Mayor of the Municipality of Santa Cruz, in Guanacaste, Jorge Chavarría, has been suspended from his job for 12 months while State prosecutors investigate allegations he has taken kick-backs and misused public funds.

Two municipal council employees --- Sigrid Cubillo and Braulio Soto --- have also been suspended for a year.

In addition to the suspension the three are barred from leaving the country and must report to the Prosecutor General’s Office every 15 days. The have been ordered to stay away from the municipal officers in Santa Cruz, as well as any witnesses the State may call as they build their case.

The first deputy mayor, Alexánder Gutiérrez, will take over Mayor Chavarría’s duties during his suspension.

He and other councilors are expected to face questioning as part of an ongoing investigation.
The investigation follows raids by officers of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Fuerza Pública and the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), the country’s investigative police, late last year.

The Mayor’s house was searched, at the same time as police raided the Municipality’s offices in downtown Santa Cruz, as well as the office of attorney, Rodrigo Sandoval Villalobos. Mr Sandoval is an external legal consultant to the Municipality.

A spokesperson for the Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed at the time the investigation stemmed from 14 anonymous complaints made by people both within and outside the municipality.

The complaints include receiving kickbacks, administrative resolutions that violate existing legislation, and the mishandling public funds.

They are understood to stem from the purchase earlier this year of two garbage trucks, the awarding of a contract to build a temporary garbage facility at the disused garbage dump known as El Cacao, as well as the approval of licenses to itinerant vendors at Playa Conchal.

There are also suggestions there may have been irregularities in the adjudication of the Flamingo marina concession.

Municipal employees who spoke on condition of anonymity said a number of councilors had traveled to Colombia to attend a presentation by the firm that won the contract to build the garbage cell. The Beach Times could not confirm which councilors had traveled abroad or where the funds to do so had come from.

Mr Chavarría, who as mayor was in charge of the country’s ninth biggest municipal budget, said this week he would appeal the suspension.

© Zoraida Diaz

DEPUTY MINISTER: Commissioner Oldemar Madrigal (in olive green uniform), from Costa Rica’s Air Surveillance Unit, gets a laugh from fellow officers during a US sponsored Crime Scene Investigation workshop given in Guanacaste last September. Commissioner Madrigal has been named Vice-Minister of Security, succeeding Jose Torres (sitting at right, also in green).

“The judge’s dictate has been appealed to a higher court. We await a resolution, hopefully next Wednesday,” Mr Chavarría said. “We are asking the decision be over-turned with plenty of supporting material or proof.

“Imagine, all this over an anonymous accusation,” he said. “The judge who participated in the raids said he found nothing. Imagine, so much damage done."

Of the allegations the mayor denied he had the power to make purchases, like a garbage truck, adding he was limited to up to 7.1 million colones, or about $13,000.

“A garbage truck is much more costly, and a garbage dump cell costs more than 200 million colones.

“What has been done only shows the Prosecutor’s office ignorance of the reaches of the position of Mayor,” he said.

It is understood the council did award a contract for the purchasing of garbage trucks, but not to the company recommended by the Municipal Purveyor’s Office.

Mr Chavarría defends that decision, saying: “What is more expensive isn’t always what’s best.”
Garbage disposal remains a contentious issue within Santa Cruz, with the Municipality’s collection service unreliable, and at best, inconsistent, despite the purchase of new equipment last year.

Earlier this year, the Municipality of Liberia moved to ban trucks from Nicoya and Santa Cruz to its landfill, after an eight-year-old boy searching for recyclable materials was smothered to death under a landslide of garbage.

Responding to questions regarding various trips that have been taken by councilors to seminars and workshops on sanitation technology, Mr Chavarría said it was perfectly legal for he and members of the council to travel abroad to learn about such issues.

“I have been to Brazil, and the councilors have been to many countries, such as Colombia, Ecuador and Salvador,” he said. “ even gave my permission for the municipality’s Environmental Director to go on a three month trip to Japan to learn about solid waste disposal.”

That trip was supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).