SAN JOSE – As part of an investigation that involves the Minister of Education, the former Minister of the Treasury, a former Presidential aide, and the public oil utility RECOPE, agents from the Judicial Investigations Office (OIJ) descended upon the Treasury Offices in the heart of downtown San Jose earlier today.

Prosecutors from the Economic Crimes section of OIJ ordered the raid, which was conducted by seven agents who looked for evidence of malfeasance and corruption in relation to contracts granted to Procesos, Investigacion y Asesoria CA, a private consultancy established by former Minister of the Treasury Fernando Herrero and his wife Florisabel Rodriguez in the late 1990s. Ms. Rodriguez resigned from her post as Presidential aide weeks ago.

It all started with an in-depth investigation published by prominent national newspaper La Nacion into the outdated property values of several public officials, including former Treasury Minister Herrero. That investigation sent several government officials scrambling to update the value of their homes, a legal requirement in Costa Rica. Mr. Herrero’s image as Treasury Minister was forever tarnished by the revelation, as it suggested willful tax evasion coming from the highest revenue authority figure in Costa Rica.

Shortly after Mr. Herrero’s resignation, a domino effect ensued in which new information surfaced about irregularities in the granting of government contracts to Procesos. The Chief Tax Collector ordered an investigation, only to see himself targeted by revelations of an unpaid tax bill. Francisco Villalobos immediately corrected the delinquency and tendered his resignation. Days later, two legislators filed a complaint against unknown Treasury employees who they suspected were providing revenue information to La Nacion.

Eleven Treasury employees are set to be charged with leaking revenue and tax information contained in the System of Integrated Revenue Information (Spanish acronym: SIAT), which is confidential. The identities of those employees are still unknown, but a Facebook group by the name of “Defendemos y acuerpamos a quienes filtraron la info tributaria. SON HEROES” (We defend and shield those who leaked tax information. They are heroes) has vowed to protest the charges and defend the anonymous whistleblowers.

The group, which was organized a few days ago, now counts with 8,500 members and it is planning sit-ins and demonstrations. Its members feel that leaking the information contained in the SIAT was a patriotic act, and not a violation of the law.

The OIJ raid on the Treasury lasted a couple of hours. Agents came out with computers and armfuls of documents.

Source: Teletica