Sweeping Crime Bill Filed in Congress
by Rod Hughes
A sweeping crime bill has entered the traffic jam behind the still-to-be-approved laws relating to CAFTA. The bill includes government confiscation of large fortunes that appear suddenly in bank accounts here and cannot be explained by their owners.
The bill also would impose more regulation on firearms and allow neighborhood security points on dead end streets, subject to municipal approval. The bill was drafted by four heavyweights in Costa Rica’s police pantheon: Vice President Laura Chinchilla (herself one-time chief of Public Security), crusading Attorney General (fiscal general in Spanish) Francisco Dall’Anese, current Minister of Public Security Fernando Berrocal and OIJ director Jorge Rojas, the equivalent of FBI director.
Both Dall’Anese and Rojas last year told the Supreme Court (which elects both) that they have set their sights on organized crime. Money laundering, a basic organized crime tactic, is the target of the “sudden fortune” article of the bill. It would give law enforcement a powerful tool but will be closely examined by the Legilsative Assemby for possible constitutional issues when the bill finally sees the light of day.
Dall’Anese said, “Everywhere in the world people must explain where their money comes from and if they don’t, they lose it.” But Chinchilla admitted that this unprecedented invasion of privacy among individuals and companies would “raise a cry to the heavens.” On the other hand, some sectors will fight hard to retain this provision. The Costa Rican Institute on Drugs received 280 tips about dubious operations last year alone.
The bill would set up a pool of information accessible to all branches of police, A private citizen would only be able to own one firearm and anyone previously involved in domestic violence or in an ongoing judicial process could not register or carry a gun. (Even under the old law, between January, 2006, and June, 2007, police confiscated 3,700 illegal firearms, many owned by private security firms whose guards-for-hire were issued unregistered arms.
This country is, of course, a “bridge” for international cocaine traffic and police have been effective both on land and at sea with causing large losses to international drug traffickers during the past year. But that is not the only organized crime that worries law enforcement here. Armed carjacking along with a lively business in stolen vehicles has become more frequent. And many criminals have tried to tuck away their ill-gotten gains in the nation’s banks, although Costa Rica has always been more forthcoming to foreign investigators than many Caribbean islands.