References: Political Constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica. The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic. Article 183. The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic is an auxiliary institution of the Legislative Assembly in its surveillance of the Public Finances; but it has full functional and administrative independence in the performance of its duties. A Comptroller and an Assistant Comptroller shall be in charge of the Comptroller's Office. Both officials shall be appointed by the Legislative Assembly for a term of eight years, two years after the start a presidential term. They can be reelected indefinitely, enjoying the immunities and prerogatives of the members of the Supreme Branches.

The Comptroller and the Assistant Comptroller are responsible to the Assembly for the performance of their duties and may be removed by it by a vote of no less than two-thirds of its members, if their unfitness or misconduct is demonstrated in the proceedings conducted for the purpose.

Article 184. The powers and duties of the Comptroller's Office are: 1. To supervise the execution and liquidation of the ordinary and extraordinary budgets of the Republic; No order of payment against State funds shall be issued unless the respective expenditure has been countersigned by the Comptroller's Office; and there shall be no obligation for the State unless it has been so countersigned;

2. To examine and approve or disapprove the budgets of the Municipal Governments and the autonomous institutions, and supervise their execution and liquidation;

3. To submit a report on an annual basis to the Legislative Assembly, at its first regular session, covering the preceding fiscal year, including a detail of the work of the Comptroller and any opinions or suggestions he may deem necessary for a better management of public funds;

4. To examine, audit and close the accounts of State institutions and public officials;

5. Any other powers vested upon it by this Constitution or the laws.

Law against the Illicit Enrichment of the Public Officials Article 20. According to the Organic Law of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, it is an exclusive duty of this institution to initiate a secret administrative procedure to investigate the facts sanctioned (penalized) by the present Law, without interfering with the same attribution of the individuals.

In these investigations, the public officials, entities and organisms are required to provide every proof available to the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic as to permit access to the institutions and collaborate in any necessary way. The public official and former public officials are required to declare under oath according to the guarantees of article 36 of the Political Constitution and article 276 of the Penal Process Code. When the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic considers that the elements of illicit enrichment are present, it will send the investigation to the Public Ministry. The negligence or hiding of facts, informs or data produced by the public official will be considered a grave violation and will be sanctioned according to the labor law, without excluding further responsibilities assigned according to the present Law or the criminal Law. Every person aware of facts that might constitute illicit enrichment is required, without any responsibility, to secretly promote the initiation of the investigations before the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic.

References: Political Constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica. The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic. Article 183. The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic is an auxiliary institution of the Legislative Assembly in its surveillance of the Public Finances; but it has full functional and administrative independence in the performance of its duties (...)

Organic Law of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (Law 7428) Article 2. Independence. In the compliance of its duties, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic has absolute functional and administrative independence, regarding any Power of the State, public entity or body. Its resolutions are only bound by the Political Constitution, International conventions and treaties and the Law. The Comptroller General of the Republic and the Sub-comptroller General of the Republic will answer for their actions to the Legislative Assembly.

References: According to the legal disposition in article 183 of the Politiclal Constitution, the removal of the General Comptroller of the Republic corresponds to the entire Legislative Assembly. Considering this, the removal will always be justified within the internal discussion in the Assembly by two thirds of its entire composition.

Political Constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica. The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic. Article 183. (...) The Comptroller and the Assistant Comptroller are responsible to the Assembly for the performance of their duties and may be removed by it by a vote of no less than two-thirds of its members, if their unfitness or misconduct is demonstrated in the proceedings conducted for the purpose.

References: The Office of the General Comptroller of the Republic has a professional, full-time staff. In principle, the General Comptroller of the Republic has a regular position and a considerable number of other functionaries are also employed by this institution.

Organic Law of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (Law 7428) Article 3. Representation. The representation of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic corresponds to its head, the General Comptroller, who will be able to delegate it in the General Sub comptroller. In the temporary absence of the Comptroller, the Sub-comptroller will have all rights regarding this representation.

References: In effect, the appointments of the staff of the General Comptroller are professional and competitive and preserve the independence of the institution.

References: The General Comptroller has assured a permanent budget from the National Budget Law, as well from the Ley Orgánica de la Contraloría General de la República (Law-428).

References: The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic makes reports publicly available on its Web site ([ LINK ]).

References: Yes, in fact the resolutions of the General Comptroller are compulsory and coercive according to law. Noncompliance exposes public officers and agencies to prosecution by law.

References: Law against the Illicit Enrichment of the Public Officials Article 9.-The fact that a government official is not included in the enumeration listed in the first paragraph of article 7 does not inhibit the Office of the General Comptroller of the Republic from making the investigations that it considers pertinent, to the effect of establishing the possible illicit enrichment of any public official.

The Office of the General Comptroller of the Republic will be able to look into and investigate the private businesses and activities of the officials bound to this law during an administrative inquiry. Any public entity remains authorized to request to the Controller's office to investigate its administration when it thinks that there are actions that could result in a formal denunciation, without limitation for the Comptroller's Office to do it on its own initiative.

References: Political Constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica. Article 30. Free access to administrative departments for purposes of information on matters of public interest is guaranteed.

Law Against Corruption and Illicit Enrichment in The Civil Service (Law Nº 8422) Article 7. Free access to Information. Considering the actions and behavior of government officials, the budget accounting, custody, auditing, administration, investment and expenditure of public funds, as the information necessary to ensure the efficacy of the present Law, are of public interest. (&)

Law of the National System of Archives. Article 10. Free access to every document produced or guarded by the institutions stipulated under article 2 of the present Law is guaranteed. If the documents are considered of State Secret and have restricted access, this condition will expire thirty years after their creation, and shall be handed over for verifiable investigations of scientific or cultural nature, as long as other constitutional rights are not infringed (article 2 of the same Law compels the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches and the rest of the public entities. The public and private archives that agree to comply with these dispositions may be required as well).

References: The audit reports are available at a reasonable time period at the Web page of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic. Source: See the informs of different investigations at [ LINK ] pageid=37,83891,37_166183,37_83996&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Political Constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica. Article 30. Free access to administrative departments for purposes of information on matters of public interest is guaranteed.

Law Against Corruption and Illicit Enrichment in The Civil Service (Law Nº 8422) Article 7. Free access to Information. Considering the actions and behavior of government officials, the budget accounting, custody, auditing, administration, investment and expenditure of public funds, as the information necessary to ensure the efficacy of the present Law, are of public interest. (&)

Law of the National System of Archives. Article 10. Free access to every document produced or guarded by the institutions stipulated under article 2 of the present Law is guaranteed.

If the documents are considered a State Secret and have restricted access, this condition will expire thirty years after their creation, and shall be handed over for verifiable investigations of scientific or cultural nature, as long as other constitutional rights are not infringed (article 2 of the same Law compels the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches and the rest of the public entities. The public and private archives that agree to comply with these dispositions may be required as well).

References: The audit reports are available for free at the Web page of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic. Source: See the informs of different investigations at [ LINK ] pageid=37,83891,37_166183,37_83996&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Political Constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica. Article 30. Free access to administrative departments for purposes of information on matters of public interest is guaranteed.

Law Against Corruption and Illicit Enrichment in The Civil Service (Law Nº 8422) Article 7. Free access to Information. Considering the actions and behavior of government officials, the budget accounting, custody, auditing, administration, investment and expenditure of public funds, as the information necessary to ensure the efficacy of the present Law, are of public interest. (&)

Law of the National System of Archives. Article 10. Free access to every document produced or guarded by the institutions stipulated under article 2 of the present Law is guaranteed. If the documents are considered of State Secret and have restricted access, this condition will expire thirty years after their creation, and shall be handed over for verifiable investigations of scientific or cultural nature, as long as other constitutional rights are not infringed (article 2 of the same Law compels the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches and the rest of the public entities. The public and private archives that agree to comply with these dispositions may be required as well).