Notes 1. See Observatoire Anti-Corruption (OAC), ‘Corruption et spoliation du patrimoine de l’état dans la liquidation de la BCCE, dans l’ONPT et dans la GECAMINES’, Doc. 2 (Kinshasa: OAC, 2003). 2. At the time of writing an amnesty for these crimes was due to be examined by parliament in July and August 2004. 3. World Bank, ‘Rapport analytique du système de passation des marchés publics en RDC’, volume 1 (2004). 4. With the assistance of Julien Attakla-Ayinon, former programme coordinator at Transparency International on the DRC.
Costa Rica Corruption Perceptions Index 2004 score: 4.9 (41st out of 146 countries) Conventions: OAS Inter-American Convention against Corruption (ratified June 1997) UN Convention against Corruption (signed December 2003; not yet ratified) UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (ratified July 2003) Legal and institutional changes • In April 2004 the legislative assembly gave its initial approval to the Law against Corruption and Illegal Enrichment in Public Office. The draft law had been submitted five years before and had yet to be fully approved at the time of writing. The aim of the law is to bring the Costa Rican legal framework into line with the provisions of the InterAmerican Convention against Corruption. The law defines corruption crimes and allows asset declarations made by public officials to be invoked in prosecutions. • The supreme court called in April 2004 for the revocation of a provision of a law creating special courts for cases of mismanagement of public resources and tax crimes because the resources necessary to properly implement the law were not allocated. The provision was part of a law adopted in May 2002, that had been criticised for making it more difficult and expensive to tackle corruption cases because they have to be dealt with in a centralised court in the capital, San José.
Trafficking in influence sullies Costa Rica’s social security system Despite a fairly sound legal framework and operational enforcement mechanisms, influence peddling continues to dog public procurement in Costa Rica, with lucrative contracts sometimes going to those companies that are prepared to grease the palms of government officials. One recent case that illustrates the problem, and has sparked anger among the general public,
involved the Costa Rican Social Security Administration (CCSS), the country’s biggest buyer of medical equipment, and a pharmaceutical distributor, the Fischel Corporation.1 The case came to light after government investigators’ suspicions were aroused by a massive increase in the value of medications sold by Fischel Corporation to the CCSS, from US $530,000 in 2002 to US $990,000 in 2003. It was soon discovered that the head of the CCSS, Eliseo Vargas, was renting a
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