Top 10 Costa Rica

Former President Rodriguez Faces Trial In the ICE-Alcatel Case Beginning Wednesday

Former Costa Rica president, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, will have his day in court beginning on Wednesday (April 14).

The former president and eight others will be sitting in the defendant’s chair for their involvement in the ICE-Alcatel case.

The group is accused by the Ministerio Público for their role in the purchase of ICE of 400.000 cellular lines from the French telecom, Alcatel, back in 2001, during the Rodríguez administration.

The former president and the others are accused of illegal enrichment (enriquecimiento ilícito) and concusión (an official abusing his office, compels or induces someone to give or promise oneself improperly for a capital gain).

Rodríguez has rejected all the charges, claiming he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

The Fiscalía charges that Rodríguez received us$800.000 as a bribes.

The former president gave up his presidency of the Organization of American States (OAS) one month in to face charges in Costa Rica, where he was promptly arrested on his return and spent several months in La Reforma prison while the Ministerio Público continued its investigation.

The charges against the former president stemmed from declarations from José Antonio Lobo, an ICE former board director and friend of Miguel Angel, who told prosecutors of the former president’s involvement in the sharing of some us$2 million dollars paid by Alcatel to get the deal done.

The trial will be held on the third floor of the Goicoechea courthouse, where to 110 witnesses are expected to give testimony, 67 for the prosecution, in a trial that is expected to run for months.

This is the same courthouse that held the trial of former president Rafael Ángel Calderón last year, who after a lenghty trial was foung guilty and sentenced to five years prison in the Caja-Fischel case. Calderón is in the the process of appealing his sentence.

In addition to former president Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría, also on trial will are: Joaquín Alberto Fernández Alfaro, Guido Sibaja Fonseca, Edgar Valverde Acosta, Luis Adrián Quirós Carmona, Alfonso Guardia Mora, Eliseo Vargas García, Eduardo E. Fonseca García, and Rodrigo Méndez Soto.