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Former
ICE Director Admits To Pay Off
Former
Instituto Costarricense de Electridcidad (ICE)
director, Hernán Bravo, will avoid jail time in
a deal he negotiated with the Fiscalía
(prosecutor's office) in exchange for an
abbreviated trial and testimony in the trial
against former Costa Rican president, Miguel
Ángel Rodríguez, former ICE directors José
Antonio Lobo and Joaquín Alberto Fernández,
among others.
Bravo will be sentenced to three years prison
for "corrupción agravada", but will be able to
serve his time outside of prison and to make
restitution.
The sentence was handed down in a private
hearing where the Juzgado Penal de Goicoechea
judge, Álvaro Córdoba, listened to the details
of the deal presented before him.
Bravo admitted to receiving more than us$1
million dollars from the French
telecommunications firm Alcatel, in exchange for
getting the us$149 million dollars contract to
install 400.000 GSM cellular lines in the
country.
At the hearing, Bravo was asked by the judge if
he admitted to the accusations against, to which
he replied yes.
Avoiding the press, Bravo and his lawyer left
the courthouse by the back door and refused to
comment on the proceedings.
The deal involves the office of the Procuraduría
(Attorney General) and authorized by Costa Rican
president, Oscar Arias and vice-president, Laura
Chinchilla, as the government and ICE were the
complainants in the case.
According to yesterday's documentation, the
money has been deposited in the accounts of the
Poder Judicial since 2004.
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Hernan
Bravo, (R) biting his nails as he sits
in court with his lawyer where he
negotiated a deal in where he exchanged
his three year sentence to be served
outside of prison for his testimony
against the others and restitution.
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