In ongoing corruption probe, President Chinchilla orders removal of roadway official

President Laura Chinchilla on Monday ordered the dismissal of Carlos Acosta, director of the National Roadway Council (CONAVI), in the latest of an ongoing corruption investigation of the agency, Communications Minister Francisco Chacón said.

At CONAVI, Acosta oversaw public infrastructure projects financed by the Inter-American Development Bank. He was appointed earlier this month amid controversy stemming from alleged corruption between CONAVI workers and companies that won construction contracts for Route 1856, a 160-km road along the San Juan River, which forms the border with Nicaragua.

Also on Monday, investigators from the Prosecutor’s Office and Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) raided CONAVI and National Emergency Commission offices in San José, and the homes of at least six government employees in the provinces of Heredia and Puntarenas, and the southeastern district of San Francisco de Dos Ríos in San José.

According to OIJ, no arrests were made, and only documents were seized during the raids.