Fiscalía Continue Interviews While Waiting On Miguel Angel
While the Fiscalía (prosecutor's office) awaits former president Miguel Ángel Rodríguez to officially step down as Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) of Friday and his return to Costa Rica, they are not sitting idly by.

Today's Stories: Fiscalía Continue Interviews While Waiting On Miguel Angel DIS/INTERPOL on Alert for Rodríguez Banco ELCA Report Expected This Week Protest March Set for Today

/LA NACIÓN Correos de Costa Rica has an unsual situation on thier hans - what to do with the Miguel Ángel Rodríguez postage stamp, that was issued on August 30 to commerate the ex-president's election to the Organization of American States (OAS). The post office has put on sale 20.000 stamps of which 15.000 were sold at a cost of ¢120 colones each and cost the post office us$2.000 to produce. Best bet is that the stamp will be continued to be offered for sale and it will increase in value as a result of the corruption scandal.

Yesterday, Rafael Sequeira Garza, one of the persons signing on behalf og the company Denisse owned by Rodríguez was before the Tribunales de Justicia, to give his declaration.

Sequeira arrived at the Ministerio Público in the early afternoon to give an explanation of why the company Denisse received money from the French telecommunications firm, Alcatel.

Before entering the courthouse, Sequiera made the following statement to the press: "I don't have to necessarily know the origin of the funds, I will answer to what I know and how I can collaborate. Never have I had reason to question Miguel Angel Rodríguez, the last time I spoke to him was last Thursday when he called me to discuss personal matters."

Sequeira added that Rodríguez was aware that he would be before the prosecutors.

Rodríguez is being accused by his former Housing Minister and friend, José Antonio Lobo, who was a member of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) board of directors who awarded the us$149 Million Dollar contract to Alcatel.

Lobo, through his wife, received us$2.400.000 dollars from Alcatel, which he says he paid a portion to Rodríguez, who had demanded a 60% share.

Lobo is currently under house arrest, along with another member of the ICE board, and and ICE employee. Another ICE employee was arrested in Nicaragua last week, after leaving Costa Rica while he was impeded from doing so, and will be spending the next six months behind bars in preventive detention.

Rodríguez stepped down as chief of the OAS in Friday. The resignation is effective October 15, at which time he loses his diplomatic immunity and is expected to return to Costa Rica. An international warrant was issued against Rodríguez by the Fiscalía moments after Rodríguez's resignation at the OAS, which is effective on Friday, in the event Rodríguez decides not to return.

Cheif prosecutor (Fiscal General) Francisco Dall'Anese has been quotes as saying, "He (Rodríguez) has two choices: come back voluntarily or by force."

In an unrelated action, the Ministerio Público is expected to interview former president, Rafael Angel Calderón for questions they want answered, not related to Alcatel, but to the Fischel-Caja scandal, that saw Calderón pocket and then return the sum of us$522.500 dollars.
 

DIS/INTERPOL on Alert for Rodríguez
Many had wondered openly if former president Miguel Ángel Rodríguez does not return to Costa Rica, will he be joining several others who have fled Costa Rican justice and are now on the Interpol wanted list?

And, since we are talking of an ex-president, will Costa Rican authorities put pressure on foreign authorities to intervene in locating a possible hiding by Rodríguez and arrest him and return to Costa Rica.

Well, the answer came yesterday, as criminal court judge Isabel Porras Abarca made an official request of the U.S. authorities for the immediate capture and detention of Rodríguez the minute his duties at the Organization of American States (OAS) is official.

Fiscal General (chief prosecutor) said that the international warrant against Rodríguez was formalized yesterday when he asked the DIS/INTERPOL in Costa Rica directoer, Guido Alvarado, to alert foreign agencies to be on the alert and prevent Rodríguez from leaving the United States.

Rodríguez's name was added to the INTERPOL database as of last night, which is sent to 187 countries around the globe.
 

Banco ELCA Report Expected This Week
News on the Banco ELCA intervention could come as early as this week, as two former managers, Javier Filloy and Hernán González, have been assisting the Ministerio Público to review the evidence in the case by the Fiscalía de delitos económicos.

The financial advisor and manager of ELCA have been in preventive detention for the last three months, along with ELCA president, Carlos Alvarado Moya.

ELCA was intervened by the Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras (SUGEF) on the 29th of June of this year, and while the bank's doors are open, business is limited to answering depositor's questions and concerns about the future of the bank.

Last month, the Asociación Bancaria Costarricense (ABC) announced that it would pay depositors with less than ¢500.000 in accounts at the bank, and to date it reports that only 344 of the 800 persons expected came forward to make a claim.

The association said only 176 cheques have been issued or only 36% of those expected.

This month, the Asociación Bancaria Costarricense (ABC), is expected to expand it's payment to those depositors with less than ¢4.5 million colones, expecting to pay out some us$2 million dollars to depositors. However, the ABC has not made a final announcement on that plan.

Óscar Rodríguez, head of the SUGEF, informs that a report on the Banco ELCA situation will come by the end of this week, which will then be reviewed by the Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero (Conassif), for a final decision on the future of the bank.

A meeting scheduled for September 30 of the partners of the bank resulted in no appearances. The meeting was to discuss proposals and plans for healing the bank.
 

Protest March Set for Today
"No to corruption" will be the theme of today's protest march downtown San José beginning at 9am this morning.

Protestors are expected to trade their "No al TLC", "Pacheco Vende Patria" and other similar themes and placards for a call to end corruption of Costa Rica now that two former presidents are implicated in unrelated cases of taking bribes or paybacks from government contracts while in office.

A score of private and public functionaries have been arrested, some in preventive detention in jail, while others under house arrest or simply have orders against them leaving Costa Rica.

It could be said that there are more millionaires in jail at the present time than in the past.

The protest was organized by Costa Rica's universities and will see other action groups and public employees join in. President Pacheco is in full support of the march and has given public employees the morning off work to attend the protestations.