SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Agence France-Presse) — Once an oasis among corrupt Latin American countries, Costa Rica finds itself swamped in scandals reaching to Taiwan, France and the Organization of American States in Washington.
Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who served as president of Costa Rica from 1998 to 2002 and was recently elected secretary-general of the OAS, returned from Washington last week to defend himself against charges he took money from French telecom Alcatel for a $149 million cellular telephone contract awarded in 2001.
“From this moment on, he is no longer [OAS] secretary-general,” said Costa Rica’s top prosecutor, Francisco Dall’Anessem. “He is accused of bribery, corruption and illicit enrichment.”
Also last week, Costa Rica’s foreign minister demanded that Taiwan explain how about $1.4 million reputedly found its way to the former president. “Explanations are in order,” said Roberto Tovar.
Tzu dan Wu, ambassador from the Republic of China (Taiwan), said he was “in no position to comment on the matter.”
Costa Ricans mobbed downtown San Juan a week ago to protest the rising tide of corruption, which has been less a part of political life here than in most of Latin America. The Central American country is ranked third most honest among Latin governments by Transparency International.
Taiwan was accused in June of having funneled $490,000 to Mr. Rodriguez, the former Costa Rican president, and to current President Abel Pacheco while he was campaigning for office.
Prosecutors went to Panama to track down the firms that made the payments — to no avail.
Prosecutors also said $4.8 million from Taiwan paid the salaries of 34 Foreign Ministry officials, including Mr. Pacheco’s daughter.
Another former president, Rafael Angel Calderon, (1990-1994) leader of the Christian Democrats, is not allowed to leave the country because prosecutors are investigating whether Instrumentariun of Finland paid as much as $9 million for a contract to sell medical equipment to the government health provider in 2001.
On Thursday, the former head of Alcatel in Costa Rica, Edgar Valverde, was detained in connection with the scandal that sullied Mr. Rodriguez. He was detained by police as he headed to a Legislative Assembly committee to testify on the reputed kickbacks.
Prosecutors said Alcatel sought rights to 400,000 cellular telephone connections in a contract with the Costa Rican Electricity Institute, which has a monopoly on telecommunications licenses.
Mr. Valverde was accused of having distributed the kickbacks. His accuser, Guido Silbaja, said he had received $196,000 in hush money from Alcatel. Several politicians have been named in connection with the scandal.
The French firm was suspected of having made millions of dollars in payments to intermediaries to gain access to the market for about $230 million in sales of mobile telephones and equipment.
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