Subscribe via E-Mail

Get all of our news delivered fresh to your inbox every morning! Just tell us your name and where to send it using the form below.

PS – We hate spam too. We don’t sell or share our list with anyone, and we never send commercial email.




luxe
Friday, January 29th, 2016  |  USD: Buy 531.29 / Sell 543.92
20 years

Former Costa Rica president Miguel Angel Rodriguez to face embezzlement trial

Email this page

211212rodriguez

(ICR Archive)

June 24th, 2015 (InsideCostaRica.com) The Criminal Court of Finance announced on Tuesday that it would set a trial date in the case of former Costa Rica president, Miguel Angel Rodriguez and eight codefendants charged with embezzlement of public funds.

 

The announcement came after a hearing earlier this year, the result of an appeal filed by prosecutors after judges in 2013 decided to dismiss a motion to put the former president on trial.

 

Rodriguez is charged with an embezzlement scheme involving a European insurance firm and the National Insurance Institute (INS).

 

An investigation revealed that British reinsurance firm PWS paid more than $2 million in bribes to three Costa Rican officials between 1998 and 2002 in exchange for a reinsurance contract with INS to ensure the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE).  One of those officials was allegedly Rodriguez.

 

Allegedly, PWS inflated the premiums in order to create a discretionary fund of some $2 million for the benefit of the defendants.  The funds were allegedly squandered by the defendants on travel, leisure and personal enrichment.

 

Rodriguez is no stranger to corruption scandals.  In 1997, while Rodríguez was a candidate for the Presidency of Costa Rica, he met Mexican politician and businessman, Carlos Hank González. He reportedly accepted campaign contributions from Hank, which is forbidden by Costa Rican law.

 

Later, news reports claimed that Rodríguez had also received $1.4 million from the government of Taiwan. The funds were deposited to a bank account in Panama controlled by the firm Inversiones Denisse S.A., which allegedly belonged to Rodríguez.

 

Rodríguez was also tried in Costa Rica for allegedly receiving more than $800,000 in payments from French telecom company Alcatel, in exchange for helping the company receive a government contract to provide 400,000 cell phone lines.

 

Rodriguez served as President of Costa Rica from 1998 to 2002 and was briefly Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2004, before stepping down to return to Costa Rica and face allegations of financial wrongdoing during his time as president.

 

costa rica news

ATTENTION: If you are seeing this message,


Advertisement


Get our news delivered fresh to your inbox every morning.

Click here to subscribe to our email list. We hate spam too and never send commercial email.

Like us on Facebook and receive our news in your timeline

  • prdatki

    Why just stop at him audit all ex Presidents and all Elected and Appointed officials. THe only problems is CR will have to build a big prison .

  • Ben

    What a scum bag.

  • Yeims

    Looks to me like they´re getting ready to give him a good wrist slapping with a wet noodle.

  • zzzzz

    We need a discussion on how easy it is for people of power to abuse their position and how we can better develop and institute mechanisms of safety. I am sure those offering bribes are also subject to legal sanctions in their country and therefore should be pursued through diplomatic channels ASAP and a request to review their books for the purpose of establishing possible price fixing which is criminal in its own right.

    The cost of legal pursuits is high but i think the fines and seizures would pay for it. I would be curious to see whether the judge that dismissed his case did so legitimately or if he has a much too nice a yacht…

    At first sight this guy looks pretty crude and obvious. I hope they can seize all the ill gotten funds and any proceeds such as foreign investments and probably foreign real estate holdings and i would even look at Swiss bank accounts. They must absolutely investigate his family and friends who i am willing to bet are somewhat revealing themselves.

    His campaign entourage is probably interesting as well.

  • costarick

    After the conviction in his first trial was thrown-out on a technicality, that the Prosecutor had not correctly introduced financial evidence regarding a Panamanian bank check paid him for the subject funds, Rodriguez arrogantly stated that he forgave all those involved in “wrongly” accusing him of a crime. I wonder what “song” he is singing now, with a new trial scheduled?

Popular Content