By Amanda Roberson, Tico Times Staff

The directorate of the Legislative Assembly yesterday issued its verdict in the high-profile complaints of sexual harassment filed against National Liberation Party (PLN) legislator Federico Tinoco – there is not enough evidence to take action against Tinoco, said assembly president Francisco Pacheco, reading a decision made by the assembly’s directorate.

The complaint against Tinoco was filed by a legislative aide Aug. 21. She alleged that the legislator repeatedly made flirtatious and threatening comments to her, kissed her on the lips and fired her after she refused his advances during a work-related trip to the Caribbean in early August (TT, Sept. 8).

Tinoco later claimed he had done nothing wrong and would prove his innocence.

The directorate made this decision yesterday after receiving and studying a report prepared by an external commission appointed by legislators to study the case.

The directorate also recommended that the woman who complained against Tinoco of sexual harassment (who has remained anonymous in the press) “take the situation to a court,” said assembly spokeswoman Auxiliadora Zúñiga. Additionally, the directorate ruled that the Legislative Assembly does not have the power to strip Tinoco of his immunity, but it recommended that Tinoco renounce his immunity, which he has refused to do throughout the ordeal.

A three-person commission – former Supreme Court justice Hugo Picado, University of Costa Rica (UCR) Medical School Dean Carmen Lidia Guerrero and human-resources specialist María de los Angeles Aldi – took two months to investigate the case and present its findings to the assembly.

Members of the press waited outside the Legislative Assembly all day yesterday in hopes of learning the report’s content and the legislature’s position on this high-profile scandal which has called into question Costa Rica’s sexual harassment law and the issue of accountability for legislators in sexual harassment proceedings (TT, Sept. 8).