Costa Rican
police seek Taiwanese businessman
President Abel Pacheco denied Tuesday that a
naturalized Costa Rican, originally from Taiwan,
and his wife bought political favors through a
hefty campaign donation.
The businessman,
Chi Kwon Li Su -- known in local financial and
political circles as Pablo Li -- fled the
country in late August with his wife, just hours
before a court ordered their arrest in a case of
alleged tax fraud amounting to over US$12
million.
Kwon Li's wife,
Anita Among, donated more than US$40,000 to
Pacheco's Social Christian Unity Party in the
campaign that led to his victory in last year.
Both Kwon Li and his wife have acquired Costa
Rican citizenship.
Kwon Li also
donated US$3,000 to the campaign of Rolando
Araya, of the National Liberation Party,
Pacheco's main rival in the polls.
Pacheco, who
attended Kwon Li's a wedding party, said he that
had no knowledge of the businessman's shady
activities.
At that time,
Pacheco said, "He was a highly respected
person; president of a bank; president of
Taiwanese tradesmen in all of Latin America; at
that time he had credentials for me to think he
was a person of total and absolute moral
solvency."
The case
involving Kwon Li comes on the heels of a
campaign donations scandal that has hit the
Pacheco government and the ruling party. Pacheco
denied Tuesday that he was ready to resign
because of the scandal.
Kwon Li, along
with his wife and a Salvadoran businessman --
identified as Jose Trinidad Sossa and also
charged with fraud -- fled Costa Rica on Aug.
27. Shortly after they fled their homes and
business offices were raided.
In the search,
police found several photographs of Li posing
with different politicians, including Pacheco,
former presidents Miguel Angel Rodriguez and
Rafael Angel Calderon, both of the ruling party,
and former president Jose Maria Figueres of the
National Liberation Party.
Pacheco and other
figures close to the government are under fire
after it became public that the Pacheco campaign
had set up secret bank accounts for donations.
Costa Rica asks U.S. government to urge Chiquita to cancel plans for banana buying freeze
Costa Rica announced Wednesday it has asked the U.S. government to urge Chiquita Brands International Inc. to scrap its plan to stop purchasing bananas from independent producers in this country for a 10-week period beginning Sept. 14.
On Tuesday, the Cincinnati-based company announced its intention to temporarily stop buying bananas from all of Costa Rica's independent producers. The company did not give a reason for the move, but produce market experts here have speculated it resulted from recent overproduction of bananas in Colombia, Guatemala and this country.
Chiquita controls a small number of private banana plantations in Costa Rica and plans to continue to produce and export bananas grown on those farms during the buying freeze. The vast majority of its Costa Rican bananas are purchased from independent banana producers.
Agricultural Secretary Rodolfo Coto said his government was aware Washington couldn't force Chiquita to buy independently produced Costa Rican bananas, but said officials here hope their American counterparts would intervene and implore Chiquita to rethink its plan.
"This isn't a demand. Since this is a commercial matter, it's more like a request for support because of the situation that a company in that country has put us in," Coto said.
As part of the government's request that the United States intervene in the matter, President Abel Pacheco joined Coto and other key fiance leaders in a series of meetings with officials at the U.S. Embassy in
San Jose late Tuesday.
Coto said Wednesday that the U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica, John J. Danilovich, was traveling and didn't attend the Tuesday meetings.
The agricultural secretary said Chiquita had unfairly singled out Costa Rica and its independent banana producers.
"This is an injustice and it's going to affect much of the country," he said. Chiquita "made a miscalculation and they are making Costa Rica pay for it."
Coto said the buying freeze will affect 4,400 workers at 11,000 acres of banana plantations and will cost the nation $10 million in lost revenue.
Costa Rica is the world's second-largest banana producer and exported more than 89,000 boxes of bananas worth $462 million in 2002, the last year Costa Rican export totals were available.
Chiquita and multinational fruit giants Dole and Fresh Del Monte control their own Costa Rican plantations while also purchasing bananas from independent producers.
A spokesman for Chiquita's Costa Rica operations could not be reached for comment on the buying freeze late Wednesday.
|
