Costa Rica: The Comptroller Refused To Finance the Purchase of a Property
<p style="line-height: 20.8px;"><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Costa Rica’s order portfolio was for the Corporate Centre the Slide for an equivalent value to more than a billion pesos. It had been requested that the acquisition be by direct purchase. Among the reasons for the Watchdog’s refusal was it had not foreseen in the budget and that the choice of the place was not compared with other similar properties.</span></p> <div> </div>
The Comptroller General of the Republic of Costa Rica (CGR) said no. It was at "the request for authorization from the Ministry of Finance to acquire the property directly 'Corporate Centre the Slide' which is valued at 68 billion colones", equivalent to more than a billion pesos.
There were several reasons why the Watchdog decided to deny permission to purchase. Among the most important highlights was that "the Ministry did not incorporate within the regular budget of the Republic for 2015 the amount requested to cover the purchase, so the resources were not available for purchase at the time."
Unlike the General Audit Office of Argentina, the Costa Rican Comptroller has the power to approve or reject the acts and contracts.
The Audit noted that "for the selection of the building a market study was done but it does not compare the slide to others like it.” Moreover, it also objected that "the Treasury made the analysis of properties with a lower extension to 47,830 m2 which was defined as necessary."
The property had "a lien and a touchdown." The purchase of property by public institutions should be free from this. The auditors explained that "there was a note related to the registration of the condominium property and an impairment related to an administrative warning." This situation "poses a risk to the free provision of goods" and therefore, "to satisfy the public interest."