Corruption Legislation Criticized

By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net

With President Abel Pacheco riding in economy class and canceling trips to Europe for fear of more accusations of corruption, some legislators are criticizing the strict anti-corruption law they passed just months ago.

“Dangerous,” “ridiculous” and “hastily passed” are some of the words used by legislators this week to describe the law, intended to prevent and punish corruption and trafficking of influences.

Pacheco, rather than criticizing the law he signed last October, is pointing fingers at the press for bringing to light questionable gifts he has recently received.

The Law against Illicit Enrichment and Corruption prohibits officials from, among other things, accepting gifts worth more than ¢160,000 ($333).

Late last year, Pacheco and his wife received free plane tickets on Grupo TACA for a personal trip to Europe amounting to approximately $1,000 (TT, June 3). This, and another gift of lifetime memberships to a luxurious resort in the Dominican Republic, has thrown Pacheco, and the anti-corruption law, into the spotlight.

The Prosecutor's Office has begun an investigation to determine whether Pacheco violated the law.

Meanwhile, some congressmen are calling for legislative reforms.

“A law can look good on paper, but then when it is put into practice it comes into a different light,” said Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC) legislator Ricardo Toledo, former minister of the presidency.

Legislators are not solely concerned with the fact that the law has landed Pacheco the nickname “Cinderella President” from other Central American leaders (after he traveled to a recent meeting in Guatemala in economy class). Some say the law goes too far in its requirement that public officials must declare all their assets and is scaring qualified people out of government posts.

The law had been under study in the assembly since 1999. It was meant to fulfill commitments the country assumed in 1997 when it ratified the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (TT, Sept. 24, 2004).

After paying little attention to the bill for four years, legislators sprang to action last September and quickly passed the bill in the wake of two corruption scandals that implicated former Presidents Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002) and Rafael Ángel Calderón, Jr. (1990-1994) for allegedly accepting cash from companies in connection with government contracts.

“We all read it; I studied it thoroughly, but there was a very strong pressure because of everything that was happening at the time… pressure from the press, from the public,” PUSC legislator Rolando Laclé told The Tico Times.

While some legislators continue to support the law in its entirety, Toledo and Laclé advocate reforming parts of it.

“The ($333) limit for gifts is fine, but sometimes, for example in the case of the President, you cannot avoid a courtesy,” Laclé said.

Some legislators also object to a chapter of the law that prohibits them from legislating on topics for which they have interests.

“For example, if a legislator works toward getting a house for one of his poor constituents, this could be interpreted as trafficking of influences,” Toledo said.

Several high-level government officials have resigned in recent months, saying the law goes too far. Legislators worry other qualified potential public employees may back away from public service for the same reason.

Directors of the boards of Banco de Costa Rica and Banco Nacional have stepped down, as has a board member from the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) and an employee of the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).

The law particularly affects board members at public institutions because it creates a division between public and private institutions. Public board members are prohibited from being paid for serving on more than one board and from participating in any company that has a contract with the government.

“Do you know how low the pay is on a board of directors?” Toledo asked.

Furthermore, though only part-time government employees, they are also subject to one of the most controversial aspects of the law – the declaration of assets and goods, including their clothes and the clothes of all the people who live in their house.

“(The law) is already driving a lot of important people out of banks and out of institutions,” said former President Rodríguez in an interview last week with The Tico Times (see separate story). “If I have to count my underwear and the underwear of my mate to be in public office, I am not going to do it.”

While Pacheco advocated the law largely in response to the corruption scandal surrounding Rodríguez and Calderón, the current President has suddenly found himself echoing some of Rodríguez's sentiments.

Pacheco has accused the press of mounting a witch-hunt against him – the exact words used by Rodríguez last year when he was accused of corruption.

Pacheco's potential violations of the anti-corruption law – the receipt of the plane tickets and resort memberships – were brought to light by press investigations, similar to the alleged corruption committed by Rodríguez.

Pacheco has since apologized for accepting the tickets and memberships and has returned the memberships.

La Nación reported that other public officials have taken advantage of free airline tickets for themselves and their families.

According to a decree published in the official government newspaper La Gaceta, the government is entitled to 25 free tickets from 10 different airlines. Some legislators have used the free tickets for unexplained excursions, La Nación reported.

Most Costa Ricans – 62.3% – believe Pacheco should never have accepted the membership in the first place, according to the results of a Demoscopía poll released Wednesday in the daily Al Día. Another 27.6% said he should have accepted the gift and 10.2% were not sure or did not respond.

The same poll found only 33.8% of respondents said Pacheco is a source of pride for the country; 56.2% said he is not.

Slightly less than half said the government is doing a regular job, and 23.2% said it is doing a bad or very bad job.

The Legislative Assembly obtained even worse ratings. Slightly more than half of respondents who said they are informed of the assembly's work, said legislators are doing a bad or very bad job.

The poll of 1,200 people over age 18 was conducted May 21 to June 1. It claims a margin of error of 2.8%.

(Tico Times reporter Katherine Stanley contributed to this report.)