Home For
The Holidays
Slowly, one by one, the accused
in the Fischel-Caja scandal are
heading home for the Christmas
holidays, with the news
yesterday that Corporación
Fischel president, Walter Reiche
Fischel, left the Unidad de
Admisión de San Rafael in
Alajuela after a six month stay
in the detention centre.
The
Tribunal de Juicio del II
Circuito Judicial de San José
freed Fischel on the condition
that he pay ¢200 million colones
(us$450.000 dollars ) bail, that
he not leave Costa Rica, sign in
at the prosecutors' office every
15 days and not have contact
with witnesses or others accused
in the case.
Earlier this week,
Corporación Fischel lawyer,
Randall Vargas, was also
released from preventive
detention on similar conditions,
however, his bail was only
¢5.000.000 colones (us$11.000
dollars).
And in less than a month, on
December 22, former Costa Rican
president, Rafael Angel Calderón,
is expected to leave the La
Reforma prison after an appeals
court reduced his nine months in
preventive detention to two.
"I am a better person... I
believe in the judicial system..
and will maintain my innoncence",
Fischel told news reporters
waiting his release.
Calderón, Fischel and Vargas are
accused of taking a us$9 million
dollar commission on the us$39
million dollar loan from the
government of Finland to the
Caja Costarricense de Seguro
Social (CCSS) or commonly known
as the Caja.
Eliseo Vargas, former president
of the CCSS, pointed the finger
to Calderón as being the
principal player in the
distribution of the funds and
was detained along with Fischel
and Randall Vargas, who spend
the last six months in
preventive detention while the
Fiscalía continues its
investigation.
Dall'Anese
Man of the Year
The
Spanish language daily newspaper
La Nación has chosen
chief prosecutor, Fiscal
Dall’Anese, the person most in
the news for the year for his
role in the ICE-Alcatel and
Fischel-CCSS scandals that saw
two former presidents of Costa
Rica in preventive detention, as
well a score of other "high"
government officials and members
of high Costa Rican society, who
are either in preventive
detention, house arrest or on
bail.
Dall'Anese was made chief
prosecutor (Fiscal) November 24,
2003, who declared that he would
wield a firm hand against
corruption at all levels.
Dall'Anese was key in the
detention of former presidents
Rafael Angel Calderón and Miguel
Angel Rodríguez, who are being
accused in the Fischel-Caja and
ICE-Alcatel scandals,
respectively and is using his
influence to force former
president José María Figueres
Olsen to return to Costa Rica to
give details of his role in
accepting a large consulting fee
from Alcatel.
Dall'Anese's firm hand has also
seen a score of "high" class
persons in preventive detention,
under house arrest or free on
bail, accused of corruption.
José Antonio Lobo, a former
minister in the Rodríguez
administration and ICE board
member is under house arrest.
Former president of Alcatel
Costa Rica, Edgar Valverde, is
in preventive detention.
President of the Corporación
Fischel, one of the oldest and
respecte companies, Walter
Reiche Fischel is now free on
bail, so is Fischel lawer.
The former president president
of the Caja Costarricense de
Seguro Social, Eliseo Vargas, is
feeling the strong arm of the
law, as is Calderón's cousin,
Alfonso Guardia. (See
our scandals scorecard)
One of the first news worthy
acts by Dall'Anese was the
arrest of priest, Father Minor
Calvo, who is accused of being
the principal author of the
murder of journalist, Parmenio
Medina.
|
|
|
In the
market for a change? Click
here! |
|
Space Shortage on Freighters
Costa Rican exporters are
finding it difficult to ship
their products abroad as a
result of a shortage of space on
freighters.
This adds to the fact that rates
have also increased, as Marco
Tristan explained, because while
they were charged $3,800 for a
cantaloupe container to Europe
last year, now they charge them
$6,000 for the same load.
Samuel Yankelewitz, chairman of
the Federation of Chambers,
explained that a large share of
the issue has to be blamed on
China, because that nation is
taking a lot of the space on
ships and, at the same time, has
been buying old boats to melt
them in order to get steel.
The increasing production of
China puts pressure on the cost
of raw materials and demands
more transportation means,
therefore influencing world
prices, explained Sergio Navas,
of the Costa Rican Chamber of
Exporters.
Ticos Travel Abroad
The Immigration Service
admitted that it is straining under a heavy demand of new passports,
as an increasing number of Costa Ricans make ready to travel abroad
for the Christmas and New Year period.
Travel agencies admit that flights to the most popular destinations
are fully booked, some of them have been so since September or
October, and the overall demand of tickets has increased from 15
percent to 25 percent as compared to the same period in 2003.
Early estimates set at 50,000 - a large chunk of the roughly 4
million population of Costa Rica - the number of Ticos who will
travel in the coming two months.
This adds to the arrival of foreign tourists, who is already in
earnest.
|
|
