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Published Monday, February 25, 2019

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Judge dismissed Crucitas case accusations
against former president Óscar Arias

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Judge Carla Bonilla Ballestero of the Criminal Court of the Treasury issued a final dismissal in favor of former President Óscar Arias Sánchez, for the crimes of malfeasance and bribery in the well-known Las Crucitas* case.

Judge Bonilla’s ruling, "declared inadmissible complaints made by the Attorney General of the Republic and the Preservation Association Wild Flora and Fauna, as well as the civil action against Oscar Arias Sánchez for the crimes of malfeasance for finding the prescribed facts. A definitive dismissal was ordered by prescription for the accused Óscar Arias for the two crimes of malfeasance, as well as a crime of improper bribery accused in the summary. The application is rejected to eliminate facts of the complaint made in the summary."

In response to the resolution, Rodolfo Brenes, Arias’ lawyer, said that "the criminal case whose acts were prescribed for a long time and where clearly there is no crime. The Criminal Court agrees with us and confirms that the facts are well prescribed, so this case should never be reopened."

Despite the fact that the trial is over for Arias, trial processes will continue for Roberto Dobles, former Minister of the Environment and six senior government executives surnamed Cavallini-Chinchilla, Cruz Ramírez, Corrales Aria, Lezama Fernández, Boza Quesada and Espinoza- Valverde.

According to the case, those people are suspected of malfeasance after being involved in the issuance of an executive decree authorizing the opening of mining work in Las Crucitas*, San Carlos.

Once the decision in the Arias case was announced, the Prosecutor's Office confirmed that it will appeal the ruling.

General Prosecutor Navas said, "we studied the resolution and have made the decision to file an appeal because we know that the criminal action is not prescribed."

According to Navas, although the team in charge of the case respects the resolution, " we do not agreed with the criteria on the facts for which the former president was accused were prescribed, since the preliminary statement was taken on November 8, 2017, almost a month before the deadline expired, which automatically extended that term for six years."

The thesis of the General Prosecutor's Office is that the court made procedural errors in its timing of procedures in the Las Crucitas* case. Those errors mean that the current case can continue.

The Prosecutor's Office said that, in the case of the crime of malfeasance for which Arias was accused, according to the Law Against Corruption and Illicit Enrichment, this period is interrupted when an act is declared null or ineffective by the administrative or judicial authority. That means, the resolution confirmed on Nov 30, 2011, reactivated a new period on the case.

The Office of the Prosecutor has three working days to present the appeal before the Court.

As A.M. Costa Rica reported on Jan. 18, the case involves official actions in favor of the Canadian firm Infinito Gold Ltd. Arias, in his capacity as president signed a decree in 2008 that said the Las Crucitas* open-pit mining project in Cutris, San Carlos, was in the national interest. Former Ministry Dobles is involved because he, too, signed off on the measure.

The open pit mine had been praised by officials as a major economic development in northern Costa Rica. Environmentalists and activists condemned the project for being a potential source of pollution. Hundreds of students rallied for months against the project. One activist even walked from San Jose to the site to attract media attention.

Officials of the Canadian firm estimated that there were billions of dollars of gold in the ground that could be extracted by a leaching method.

A.M. Costa Rica wire services photo

The gold mining company was hit with environmental allegations and its concession was canceled.

The decree by Arias provided certain bureaucratic benefits to the firm to expedite development of the project.

The case has been in and out of the courts and appeals panels for nearly nine years.

According to the allegation of the prosecution, the defendants committed irregularities in issuing the decree of national convenience in 2008.

In 2010 the Contentious Court annulled the decree, which allowed an accusations to be opened against the suspects.

In January 2015 Dobles was judged and found guilty. The former minister was sentenced to three years in prison for the fault of malfeasance. However in November of that year an appeals panel annulled the sentence.

The Public Prosecutor's Office requested the dismissal of the case against Arias in 2014, and a criminal court accepted the request. For that reason, there was never a trial.

The former attorney general, Jorge Chavarria, that year had created two different files to make two trials despite being the allegations being a single case. It was then that a file was made for Arias and another for Dobles and the rest of the suspects.

In November 2017, the new attorney general, Emilia Navas, announced the reopening of the cases and requested a judge to combine all the allegations against all the suspects. Last November a judge accepted the request.

The gold mining company was hit with environmental allegations and its concession was canceled. Among other crimes alleged were the cutting of mountain almond trees that are favored by the great green macaw. The company cut some of the trees to prepare for the mining pit, in part due to the decree by Arias.

After the government annulled the concession, Infinito Gold opened a claim for $321million for compensation before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes of the World Bank. That action generated protests here and in Canada. The arbitration is under the Canadian-Costa Rican trade agreement. The company since lowered its request even though the international price of gold has soared since the firm announced the project.

The arbitration center's website still listed the case as pending, meaning no decision has been made. The last action was Jan. 8 when the three-arbitrator panel considered the production of more documents.

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Do you agree that the prosecution should continue with the appeal? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com

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