• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

Costa Rica: Reports on whether officials of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy require people and businesses to pay bribes in order to obtain permits to cut and transport trees; agencies which victims of bribes can turn to for protection and redress (1998 to June 2001)

No reports on whether officials of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy (Ministerio del Ambiente y Energía, MINAE) require people and businesses to pay bribes in order to obtain permits to cut and transport trees could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, a 9 February 2001 La Nación report provided the following information on investigations against MINAE officials for alleged irregularities.

The Environmental Tribunal of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (Tribunal Ambiental del Ministerio del Ambiente y Energía, MINAE) had initiated administrative proceedings against five officials of the Ministry who were allegedly responsible for committing irregularities in 30 forest management areas in Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula. Elizabeth Odio, Minister of MINAE, stated that there was inadequate financial forecasting (no se dio una adecuada fiscalización) in these 30 areas on the part of MINAE and the project managers on the ground. It was shown that there were discrepancies in some of the logging areas and the worse cases under investigation showed that some farmers marketed their lumber illegally outside the confines of a management plan. The Minister stated that 60 forest management projects were subject to audits, but the Environmental Tribunal rejected the results of half of the cases.

The investigations into the conduct of the five MINAE officials stemmed from findings of environmental groups that revealed that close to 14,000 trees had been cut down in 1998-1999. Among the officials, two were reassigned to posts in other departments of the Ministry, one resigned, and two were put under investigation and suspended from their jobs. The Environmental Tribunal will determine whether to follow-up the administrative proceedings with criminal charges.

In a 22 June 2001 telephone interview, the secretary of the press office at MINAE was able to confirm that investigations against the MINAE officials are continuing but was unable to provide additional information on the case.

With regards to state protection for persons wanting to lodge a complaint against public officials, the Website of the Office of the Ombudsman of Costa Rica (Defensoría de los Habitantes), a public institution that protects the rights and interests of all Costa Ricans, and monitors the effective functioning of the public sector, states that all persons who live in the country, be they nationals or foreigners, may lodge a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman if their rights or interests have been violated as a result of wrong doing by a public institution or by a public servant (7 June 2001). The Office of the Ombudsman may also take action in cases of irregularity even if no one has presented a particular complaint (ibid.). Complaints may be made free of charge by visiting the head office of the Ombudsman in San José or the mobile offices found throughout the country; complaints can be also be made by telephone, fax, mail, electronic mail or telegram (ibid.). If the office determines that the complaint falls within the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman, it goes ahead with an investigation and then dictates recommendations for action (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Defensoría de los Habitantes. 7 June 2001. "Lo que Usted debe saber para proteger sus derechos." <http://www.crnet.cr/~defensor/dhr600.html> [Accessed 25 June 2001]

Ministerio del Medio Ambiente y Energía (MINAE), San José, Costa Rica. 22 June 2001. Telephone interview with the secretary of the press office.

La Nación [San José]. 9 February 2001. Vanessa Loaiza Naranjo. "30 planes de manejo presentan errores: Revelan anomalías por tala en Osa." <http://www.nacion.co.cr/ ln_ee/2001/febrero/09/pais12.html> [Accessed 22 June 2001]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet sites including:

La Nación [San José]. Search Engine. 1998-2001

Search Engines:

Fast Search

Google

HotBot