Liberman and Garnier Violated Principles of Ethics, Report

Presidenta Laura Chinchilla continues to face problems with members of her cabinet, this time the vice-president and minister of Education, who on Wednesday were found to have violated the principles of ethics, according to the Procuradoría General de la Ética (Attorney General of Ethics) report.

Vice-president Luis Liberman is on the left, Garnier by his side

The government, however, said there was no bad faith or malice intent involved.

The report says that the letters of recommendation sent by Leonardo Garnier (minister of Education) and Luis Liberman (Costa Rica's second vice-president) with respect to the Procesos company, owned and operated by acquaintances, "violate the principles of ethics".

The "acquaintances" in the case were none other than fellow former presidential advisor, Flor Isabel Rodríguez and her husband, the former ministro de Hacienda (Finance minister), Fernando Herrero.

Also involved in the recommendation letters are the advisor to Garnier, Gladys González and Adrian Chinchilla, the brother of Presidenta Chinchilla.

Apparently, Liberman and Garnier, provided the state refinery, RECOPE, with letters recommending the hiring of the Gonzalez/Herrero company to provide marketing services.

The company Procesos, Investigación y Asesoría CA was a bidder in the Recope tender which included competing bids for several hardware companies with no relation to marketing or advertising services.

The attorney of the Public Ethics, Gilbert Calderon, told Radio Reloj that "the letters are not letters of experience, but letters of recommendation, which are prohibited by Costa Rican law."



The ministro de información, Francisco Chacon, said following research by the ministerio de la Presidencia with respect to the Attorney General of Ethics report believes that officials acted without malice or bad faith and did not commit serious offenses that warrant any penalty.