Migration office
Official Fajardo Castillo, from the Directorate of Migration and Foreigners, allegedly charged up to ¢ 350,000 to accelerate his clients’ institutional procedures.
People approached Fajardo with the documents, which he registered in the system and supposedly omitted some important requirements. Before doing this, people had apparently paid for the service.
Fajardo was arrested at the regional office of Puntarenas where he worked. He was suspended because of the judicial process against him.
His mother was also arrested for apparently helping him to make the deposits of money in the corresponding bank, fulfilling one of the requirements.
After the investigation, which took 8 months, authorities also arrested an Argentinean surnamed Valansi and an American surnamed Markey. The first person allegedly processed 6 applications with Fajardo for the category of specific occupation workers. In addition, Markey would have paid $ 500 for the resident landlord’s immigration status.
Elías Quesada, temporary director of the Professional Police, declared that the institution is always working to fight this kind of situation.