Prosecutors Not to Pursue Araya Residence

Prosecutors have decided not to continue pursuit of the question of whether Mayor of San Jose Johnny Araya falsified his cedula twice in declaring he resides in the capital instead of his true home in the western suburb of Escazu.

The original complaint was filed by the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) and more rode on the question than just Araya's truthfulness -- a court case could have annulled his mayor's seat awarded him by voters in late 2010.

On his cedula in 2003 and 2010, Araya gave his residential address as San Jose, instead of Escazu, his physical residence. In October of 2009, the TSE filed a criminal complaint against Araya for falsely representing his residence as being in San Jose.

The cedula in Costa Rica serves as the primary source of personal legal identification for everything from  cashing a check to declaring tax information, serving the same purpose as a driver's license in the United States. However, judicial investigators found that giving a residence different from a physical residence was not a crime.

However, a case against Araya filed with the criminal court in Goicoechea by an anti-corruption prosecutor has yet to come to a decision. In that case his qualification to have run as mayor of San Jose may ride.

In Araya's opinion, the case vindicates his assumption that there was no crime involved. ""I always maintained no crime was involved," he said, "that it is one thing to declare where you want to vote and another where your real domicile is."

"I said, from the beginning," he added to a reporter from La Nacion, "that there are many people who have an electoral domicile distinct from where they live, including distinguished persons of the country, figures in the courts and central government."

But the newspaper La Nacion noted that despite what he says now, Araya declared in 2003 that he lived a short time in San Jose and therefore maintained it was his legal residence. "Moreover, he insisted, in that era, he could serve as municipal executive in San Jose even though he lived in another canton," noted the paper.

In 2007, the TSE ruled that a mayor must live in the canton he directs. However, on Nov. 23 the TSE notified Araya that it would not pursue a case against him, according to TSE spokesman Diego Brenes. But the day after, TSE filed a complaint against Araya.

A criminal prosecution against Araya could have severely damaged his chances in his bid for the nomination to the National Liberation party nomination for president.