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The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) made headlines again in August when the local daily La Nación revealed excerpts from an internal, confidential document in which the director of the pensions’ section, Miguel Pacheco Ramírez, admitted to holding (illegal) talks with the World Bank to explore the possibility of investing 3% -roughly ¢34bn (US$67.31m) - of the disability, old age and death (IVM) fund in foreign stock markets. The CCSS’s constitutive document prohibits such investments, which cost Pacheco another four month suspension from his post –he has been suspended since January for other irregularities. The document also revealed that the IVM had hired 217 people in dubious processes, increasing worries about the future financial viability of the CCSS, the IVM and the overall pension system [RC-11-08].
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