A former Minister of Housing in Costa Rica was recently sentenced to three years in prison for misusing donated funds and perpetrating fraud against the government. Fernando Zumbado served during former President Oscar Arias‘ second administration; and, despite his criminal conviction and sentence, he will not spend a single day behind bars.

Mr. Zumbado was tried before Treasury Court. He was investigated back in 2008 after government auditors found that he had mismanaged $1.5 million donated by Taiwan, which were intended to fund the revitalization of various low-income neighborhoods. Prosecutors argued that he used the money to fund several consultancy projects instead.

The court granted a suspended prison sentence to Mr. Zumbado, which is not unusual for white-collar criminals in Costa Rica who have no prior records and whose offenses did not involve violence or intimidation. There’s also the issue of prison overcrowding to consider; just about all correctional institutions in Costa Rica are currently way beyond their capacity -a consequence of President Laura Chinchilla’s making good on her campaign promise of cracking down on crime.

Mr. Zumbado is hardly the first powerful white-collar criminal to avoid prison. Two former Presidents of Costa Rica received prison sentences that they never served. High-ranking public officials are not the only ones enjoying commutations; wealthy white-collar criminals in Costa Rica rarely end up in jail (as long as their crimes did not involve violence or intimidation, and provided that their sentences are under five years). Once again, prison overcrowding is a major factor in these commutations.

The founder of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) political party, Jose Merino del Rio, used to call attention to the high number of convicted white-collar criminals who are not behind bars, but he knew better than proposing construction of new prison facilities in Costa Rica. Very few people in Costa Rica are supportive of new jails, particularly when they find out how much correctional institutions cost. This creates a problem not only in terms of overcrowding but also in relation to the spread of white-collar crimes in the country.

Source: Repretel