The conservative president faced a legislative panel weighing whether he should retain his immunity from prosecution.Rodrigo Chaves Robles has become the first sitting president in the history of Costa Rica to testify to a legislative committee as he faced charges of corruption and the possibility of a criminal trial.The three-member committee held the hearing on Friday to consider whether or not to lift Chaves Robles’s immunity as president.Doing so would pave the way for Chaves Robles to be prosecuted based on allegations he used government-related funds to give kickbacks to an ally.Chaves Robles has denied any wrongdoing and accused his opponents of using the judiciary to oust his government.“What we are experiencing has historic consequences,” Chaves Robles said on Friday. “The entire country is witnessing a legal rigging by the attorney general and the criminal court.”He told his supporters outside the Legislative Assembly that his adversaries had “staged a ridiculous case to carry out a judicial coup d’etat” and convince the public he was a “scoundrel”.The committee must deliver a report following Chaves Robles’s testimony to the full Legislative Assembly, which will then vote on whether to strip him of his immunity from prosecution.A conservative economist and former minister of finance, Chaves Robles has been accused of forcing an associate to take money from a contract awarded by a development bank, the Central American Bank …
