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  The judge of the Criminal Treasury Court did not impose pre-trial prison to any of the 30 suspects of being part of a corruption gang against the government, known as the Cochinilla case. - Judicial Investigation Organization photo -  |
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Published
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
The judge of the Criminal Treasury Court did not impose pre-trial prison to any of the 30 suspects of being part of a corruption gang against the government, known as the Cochinilla case. According to estimates by the agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization, allegedly the fraud case could be valued up to 78 billion colones, about $126 million of embezzled funds. Agents used the name Cochinilla in the investigation, which is the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus) native to tropical and subtropical countries. Of the suspects, the last person to be released on Tuesday was a woman surnamed Solís who owns the H-Solis company investigated in the case. She was being held in the cells of the Vilma Curling prison, known as the women's prison after being detained for almost two weeks. The judge ordered Solís to pay $3 million as a "guarantee" or bail that she would not leave the country, nor approach the witnesses among other pre-trial measures. On Monday, the judge also ordered a man surnamed Cerdas, owner of the MECO company that is also investigated in the case, to leave his cell at the Second Judicial Circuit jail. He was there for about two weeks. The judge also ordered the payment of a guarantee or bond of $5 million, where he would not leave the country, nor approach the witnesses among other pre-trial measures. According to the Public Ministry, the Prosecutor's Office had asked the judge to order one year of preventive detention for 14 of the suspects investigated. However, none of the suspects received that measure. Due to this result, the Prosecutor's Office reported that they have requested a date to hold an appeal hearing to reiterate the request for preventive detention against 14 of the suspects. The rest of the suspects also received similar pre-trial measures such as an impediment to leaving the country, signing an attendance note, and suspension from duties (in the case of public employees) during the investigation. The Public Ministry had asked the judges for a year of preventive detention against 14 of the 30 suspects in the case due to the risk of fleeing the country or interference in the investigation. The 14 main suspects are identified with the surnames Cerdas, two surnamed Solís, González, Fallas, Bolaños, Herrera, Martínez, Arce, Madrigal, Cervantes, Carmona, Mora and Abarca. Another group of 16 suspects linked to the case are mostly public employees of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, surnamed Sánchez-Castro, Ureña-Villalobos, Castro-Rodríguez, Bonilla-Guillén, Rojas-Monge, Chaves-Mora, Cantillano, Zamora, Rodríguez- Araya, Rivera-Campo, Quesada-Pérez, Ortiz-Vega, Lobo-Bejarano, Monge-Hernández, Quesada-Aguirre, Solís-Vargas.  Amid the scandal, the General Attorney, Emilia Navas, announced her retirement, a couple of days after she resigned to exercise her functions with this particular case because her partner is one of the defense attorneys of the suspects. The investigation of alleged corruption in the government, valued at over $126 million, led to the arrest of 30 people on June 15, ordered by the Deputy Prosecutor's Office for Probity, Transparency and Anti-Corruption. For the Cochinilla case, the Prosecutor continues to investigate possible crimes such as bribery, embezzlement, irregular payments of government agreements, illicit association and peddling among others. -------------------- How could this allegedly multi-million dollar corruption scandal impact Costa Rica's image? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com Professional's
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