Editor’s Note
A legislative commission has voted against a report recommending sanctions for several officials and a company in the ‘Diamante Case’.
Lawmakers of the Legislative Assembly’s Public Income and Expenditure Control Commission voted against the report on the ‘Diamante Case’ that recommended sanctions against the construction company MECO, former San José mayor Johnny Araya, Cartago mayor Mario Redondo, as well as four other former municipal officials.
The rejected report was presented by Sofía Guillén, a legislator from the Broad Front (FA) party, independent Kattia Cambronero, as well as Paola Nájera and Manuel Morales, both from the ruling Social Democratic Progress Party (PPSD) faction. During the vote, the document received negative votes from Dinorah Barquero, Francisco Nicolás, and Katherine Moreira Brown of the National Liberation Party (PLN); Yonder Salas of New Republic; and Vanessa Castro of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), who had initially signed it but later separated from it, presenting her own report backed by the PLN, which will be known in the next session. Only Nájera, Morales, and Guillén voted in favor, while Cambronero was absent.
During Thursday’s session, Guillén expressed her disagreement with the stance taken by some of her colleagues on the commission, especially those who, after initially backing the report on the case, decided to draft a new one. According to the Broad Front legislator, this decision aimed to soften the accusations and allegations against the politicians involved in the case. Furthermore, she suggested that her colleagues’ stance sought to protect those implicated.
Nájera also spoke out regarding her colleagues’ refusal to support the report and, like Guillén, accused them of softening the allegations in the new one.
The investigation revealed an apparent corruption network linking public officials and contractors, with the company MECO concentrating public funds in an almost monopolistic manner. The report in question recommended sanctions for MECO, Araya, and Redondo, in addition to other former municipal officials involved in the cited case. It also urged the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) to investigate possible irregularities in the contracting processes and in the relationship with the companies MECO and Explotec. In its conclusions, the text called for sanctions such as dismissals and disqualifications for those involved and urged the Public Ethics Prosecutor’s Office (PEP) to evaluate the conduct of the implicated officials. It also requested that the Public Ministry redouble efforts to present formal accusations.
The Diamante Case began after special agents from the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) carried out a series of arrests in November 2021, which exposed a complex corruption network in municipal public works and construction companies. The report known by the Commission for the Control of Public Income and Expenditure recommended imposing sanctions on the construction company MECO, former San José mayor Johnny Araya, and the current mayor of Cartago, Mario Redondo, for the Diamante Case.