The Foreign Ministry is studying the legal procedure to charge Evelyn Gutiérrez, former Costa Rican consul in Trinidad and Tobago, the salaries she received between May and September 2016, after it was announced that the Comptroller General of the Republic had banned her from holding public office for two years.
Deputy Foreign Minister Alejandro Solano said that Foreign Minister Manuel González instructed one of his advisers to consult the Legal Department of the Comptroller’s since December 1st. Apparently, this week they will decide on the possibility of asking Gutiérrez to pay back the wages she received during those four months.
In turn, the report of the Legal Department of the Foreign Ministry analyzes the possibility of charging Gutiérrez the household goods she used during those months in Trinidad and Tobago. The amount to be charged is being quantified.
Foreign Minister Manuel González and the Foreign Service Qualification Commission decided to appoint Evelyn Gutiérrez as a consul in Trinidad and Tobago on March 17th 2016 of the knowing that the woman had open administrative process with the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) for the misuse of ¢ 2,320 million of the Support Fund for Technical and Higher Education in Puntarenas (FAESUTP).
In May of that same year, the comptroller found her responsible for this case and banned her from holding public office for two years, but the she did not report it to the Chancellery and the Minister and his advisers ignored the ruling.
Although her dismissal took place in September, it was not until December that the Chancellery began the study the possibility of claiming the payment of those four months of wages and household goods.
The Foreign Ministry said that he decided to appoint her despite having an open process in the Comptroller’s Office, based on the principle of presumption of innocence.
The legislators severely criticized Gonzalez for this decision and even asked President Luis Guillermo Solís, to intervene and demand explanations from Minister González, since they are close friends.