A municipal inspector in Santa Cruz, Guanacaste, bought a new Toyota Hilux for 21.2 million colones (about $46,500) that his income cannot account for, according to a police report in the corruption investigation that has reached the area’s mayor. The inspector, Carlos Cedeño Leiva, is one of nine people under investigation for alleged influence peddling, bribery and illicit enrichment. The group includes Santa Cruz Mayor Jorge Arturo Alfaro Orias and his son, Jorge Alfaro Molina. None of them has been charged, and all are presumed innocent.
The police report lists other vehicles registered to the inspector, including a Yamaha motorcycle, a Hyundai Accent and a Hino Dutro truck, as well as a Hyundai Tucson bought in his wife’s name in August 2024. Investigators say the Hilux purchase does not match the asset declaration the inspector filed with the tax administration. He did not respond to requests for comment from local media.
The case is led by the Deputy Prosecutor’s Office for Probity, Transparency and Anticorruption and prosecutors suspect that municipal officials, including the mayor, the head of urban planning and inspectors, fast-tracked construction permits, land-use approvals, favorable inspections and coastal concessions in exchange for money or gifts.
According to the case file, the mayor’s son acted as a link between business owners and municipal staff. He is listed as president of Tamarindo Los Sueños Tres Marettimo S.A., a company that also involves two representatives of Constructora Masorati, both surnamed Canales.
Investigators found transfers from Constructora Masorati and the Tamarindo company into the son’s accounts, with no matching outflows to justify them. Prosecutors are treating those deposits as possible unlawful gains and are seeking banking and tax records. No total amount has been disclosed.
Prosecutors also point to the construction company’s rapid growth. It handled 21 projects in 2023 and another 20 through September 2024, an increase they link to the start of contacts between the businessmen and municipal officials. The case file attributes 145 construction permit applications to the company and one of its representatives, although not all of them were necessarily approved.
Phone records cited by prosecutors show calls between the private parties and officials responsible for permits, land use and inspections, which they view as possible signs of coordination. The investigation also covers an alleged scheme to obtain concessions in the Maritime Terrestrial Zone at Junquillal, Playa Blanca and Avellanas. According to prosecutors, those involved would then sell shares or transfer the concession rights to third parties for large sums through corporations.
Judicial investigators searched the Santa Cruz municipal offices, a construction company’s headquarters and two homes earlier this week, in the first public step of the Guanacaste permit investigation. Francisco Mairena, the municipality’s press officer, said the mayor would not comment because the case is already before the courts. He said the other officials involved would not comment either and that all of them continue to work normally.
Santa Cruz covers a large stretch of Guanacaste’s Pacific coast, including Tamarindo, Flamingo and Playa Grande, where tourism and real estate growth has driven demand for permits and coastal concessions. The allegations reflect the prosecution’s hypothesis at the investigative stage and do not constitute a judicial finding of responsibility.
