The Mayor of the Municipality of Santa Cruz, in Guanacaste, Jorge Chavarría, was detained by police this week on suspicion he has taken kick-backs and misused public funds.

Officers of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Fuerza Pública and the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), the country’s investigative police, raided Mayor Chavarría’s house early Tuesday, as he sat eating breakfast with his 84-year-old mother.

Mr Chavarría, in charge of the country’s ninth biggest municipal budget, was led away by police and held for most of the day.

The Mayor’s house was searched, at the same time as police raided the Municipality’s offices in downtown Santa Cruz, as well as the office of attorney, Rodrigo Sandoval Villalobos. Mr Sandoval is an external legal consultant to the Municipality.

Municipal employees, as well as elected councilors, were forced to sit outside in a public park, as police cordoned off the municipal building with yellow tape.