Preliminary Hearing Ends
In Alcatel-ICE Case
The Alcatel-ICE case is
moving slowly, though it
is making advances, as
the preliminary hearings
being held by the
Juzgado Penal de
Hacienda del Segundo
Circuito Judicial de
Goicoechea, ended
yesterday. Now, it will
be up to the judges to
determine if the case
will go to trial or not.
The end of the court
sessions was welcomed
news for former Costa
Rican president, Miguel
Ángel Rodríguez, who is
being charged, among
other things, receiving
a bribe from the French
telecommunications firm,
who received the
contract to install the
initial 400.000 GSM
cellular lines in the
country.
Rodríguez, although
implicated in the
scandal by his former
friend ICE board of
directors member, José
Antonio Lobo, maintains
his innocence and has
made charges of a
vendetta against him,
writing a book "Di La
Cara" (I Gave Face) to
explain his side of the
story.
Rodríguezis facing four
counts of "enriquecimiento
ilícito y corrupción
agravada" in the
accusation that he
received some us$2
million dollars in
bribes from Alcatel.
Last month, Christian
Sapsizian, a former
executive of Alcatel
Costa Rica, was
sentenced in Mimami to
30 months in prison for
bribing Costa Rican
officials.
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
Echeverría, who served
as president between
1998-2002, is an
economist, businessman,
and was briefly
Secretary General of the
Organization of American
States (OAS) in 2004
before being forced to
step down by allegations
of financial wrongdoing
during his presidential
tenure in Costa Rica. |
