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Deputies ask
that former president Luis
Guillermo Solís and Helio
Fallas the former Minister
of Finance be banned from
holding any public position
for four years. / A.M. Costa
Rica wire services photo.
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Deputies
request public position bans
for former
President Luis Guillermo
Solis and former Minister
of Finance Helio Fallas
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica
staff
The deputies of the Special
Permanent Commission of Income
and Public Expenditure
approved a report on the
investigation of the
government’s budget shortfall
of ¢900 billion colones (about
$1.5 billion). In the
resolution, the deputies ask
that former president Luis
Guillermo Solís and Helio
Fallas the former Minister of
Finance be banned from holding
any public position for four
years.
The deputies requested that
the report be delivered to the
Prosecutor Office to establish
the civil and criminal
responsibilities of the seven
persons who were investigated.
Jonathan Prendas, a deputy and
president of the Commission
said there is enough evidence
to be able to show the
possible illegal acts of both
a civil and criminal nature of
seven people as follows:
Former President Luis
Guillermo Solís.
Former Minister of Finance
Helio Fallas.
Current Minister of Finance
Rocío Aguilar.
Four additional high
authorities from the Ministry
of Finance, Marta Cubillo,
Marjorie Morera, Julio
Espinoza, and Melvin Quirós.
The report was signed and
approved by deputies Yorleni
León, Silvia Hernandez,
Xiomara Rodriguez, Franggi
Nicolás, Jonathan Prendas,
Luis Fernando Chacón, Pedro
Muñoz, Otto Vargas, and Erick
Rodríguez.
Only deputy Paola Vega did not
vote for the report.
"We consider that it is
extremely serious the way in
which the previous government
acted, it is extremely serious
how the economy of the country
was put at risk, by clear
omissions and we consider that
this cannot be ignored," said
deputy Prendas.
According to deputy Yorleni
León, what happened in the
country with this budget
shortfall is unprecedented,
since "it is an act of the
most serious that has been
irresponsible because it was
developed at the highest level
with the highest authorities
of the former government."
Deputy Erick Rodríguez said it
is painful to see a government
that acted with total
irresponsibility from the
political campaign until the
last day, "what they wanted to
look for ways to show
themselves as a government
that did not spend because
they were on the eve of the
new elections."
Regarding the only one
non-vote by deputy Paola Vega,
she refused to vote for the
majority report, because she
considers that no money that
has been lost, stolen, or used
for other purposes with
intentions of corruption, but
only that it was money as part
of a budget not authorized by
the Legislative Assembly.
"It is very different to
divert public funds than steal
money. Here is an
irresponsibly some deputies
have wanted to make it seem.
In 2017 budget was endorsed by
the General Comptroller and
the Central Bank of Costa Rica
and with the support of the
deputies who did not make a
single change or a single
motion to change this budget,"
said Deputy Vega.
In September 2018, former
president Luis Guillermo Solís
appeared before the Commission
of Deputies where he said that
he was unaware of the
shortfall in the budget.
According to former president
Solis, "the possibility of
raising an extraordinary
budget was never raised."
Former President Solis said
his technical financial team
worked since February 2017 in
the process to prepare an
eventual extraordinary budget
however, this process was
finished by July 2017, when
the new government of the
president Carlos Alvarado was
already in place.
Luis
Guillermo Solís Rivera was
the President of Costa Rica
from 2014 to 2018. He is a
member of the center-left
Citizens' Action Party,
known as PAC. Solís led the
field in the 2014
presidential election,
and won the presidency in a
landslide election, earning
more votes than any
presidential candidate in
the history of the nation.
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Should the
Prosecutor’s Office make an
investigation on this
shortfall budget? We would like to know
your thoughts on this story.
Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com
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