ICE-ALCATEL SCANDAL:
Fiscalía to Investigate Allegations Against Former President Rodríguez
Costa Rican authorities say they will investigate former President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez on allegations of corruption.

Former Costa Rican president, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, now Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) says the José Antonio Lobo Solera  "lent" him money to finance his OAS campaign, however, Lobo denies any such loans or debt owed to him by Rodríguez.

José Antonio Lobo Solera , a former member of the board of directors ICE who awarded the Alcatel contract, former deputy of the Legislative Assembly and former Minister in the Rodríguez administration is under "house arrest" while the investigation by the Fiscalía continues.

Once former Costa Rican president Miguel Ángel Rodríguez was implicated by his long time friend and former minister, the international press has picked up the story.

Headlines in various online news sources have been running the headlines and stories of the newly appointed Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), about receiving payoffs.

Rodríguez was president from 1998-2002, and was last week sworn in as secretary-general of the Organization of American States, following a campaign that was financed by Costa Rica financially and politically.

"Rodríguez is not accused of anything", Fiscal General  (Attorney General) Francisco Dall'anese told a news conference.

"The Fiscalía (attorney general's) office will study what sort of immunity he enjoys as secretary of the OAS according to international law."

The Spanish daily newspaper La Nación reported on Tuesday that former director of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), José Antonio Lobo Solera, had received us$2.400.000 from the French telecommunications firm, ALCATEL, for the "prize" - the award of the contract for 400.000 GSM cellular lines.

Lobo told four prosecutors on Thursday that "I consulted with don Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, asking what I needed to do. He told me that I should accept and that we would split it 60% for him and 40% for me".

Lobo also told prosecutors that Miguel Ángel had called him by telephone last week and told him that he would receive a note that showed Miguel Ángel owed Lobo money.

Lobo added "Don Miguel Ángel never had any debt with me."

Rodriguez was quoted as telling La Nación that he had received a total of $140,000 from Lobo - but only as a loan - and he denied knowing the money came from Alcatel.

He told the newspaper that the money was to help him with expenses from his campaign for the OAS leadership and that he planned to repay it.

Prosecutors said Friday that they will question the former President. Dall'a'nese said he would decide soon when to call Rodríguez to testify in the case.

In a statement issued in Washington, Rodríguez said the allegations ''do not correspond with the facts.'' He said he will prove this "to the appropriate authorities.''

Rodríguez told La Nación by telephone that ''I was in the middle of a lot of expenses due to the campaign I was in for the candidacy to the OAS. We talked to José Antonio Lobo and saw the possibility that he would lend the money, and he did so,'' the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Rodríguez added that in view of developments he was gathering the funds to return the loan.

According to previous La Nación reports, Lobo's wife, Jeanne Gallup, received a bank transfer from Alcatel for $2.4 million. Gallup transferred us$58.000 to an account in the name of Rodríguez's wife, Lorena Clare, the newspaper reported.

Banking records dug up by local television channel 7 "telenoticias" indicate that the us$58.000 had been sitting in a Investment Fund in Costa Rica's Bolsa de Valores, earning interest, and it wasn't until Wednesday the 29th, one day following the initial report, that a request for withdrawl was made.

"Rodríguez lied" was their lead story in last night's late evening television news report, questioning the validity of Rodríguez's statement that the loan was for defraying his campaign expenses when the the money was still sitting in the bank for more than a year.

Meanwhile, back at home, José Antonio Lobo Solera, began his first day under "house arrest", a cautionary move by the Fiscalía to prvent Lobo from leaving the country as his wife did on Tuesday morning.

Graffiti spray painted on the wall of outside his home expresses the sentiment felt by many Costa Ricans towards Lobo and other public officials, spray painting the words "Ladron" or Thief of one and all to see, of what they think of the man inside.