Wednesday 24 September
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
Foreign Trade Minister
Positive US Will Grant
An Extension On The TLC
ICE Requests
Electrical Rate Increase Of Up To 56%
Former Alcatel Costa
Rica Executive's Hot
Phone Plan
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Higher In Costa Rica, Lower In Panama,
Flat In El Salvador
Babcock Genetics' Costa
Rican Partnership
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Former Alcatel Costa
Rica Executive's Hot
Phone Plan
What can us$2.5 million
get you these days other
than a failing bank on
Wall Street? For a
former Alcatel exec, it
ensured his company a
us$149 million contract
from a state agency in
Costa Rica.
A federal judge in Miami
sentenced 62 year old
Christian Sapsizian,
former executive of
Alcatel Costa Rica, to
30 months in prison for
bribing Costa Rican
officials.
The bribes, used to win
a lucrative contract
from the Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) - the
state run telecom,
violated the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act.
Sapsizian, a French
citizen, cooperated with
U.S. authorities. He
admitted that between
February 2000 and
September 2004 he worked
with Alcatel's senior
country officer in Costa
Rica to pay more than
$2.5 million to
officials at the
Instituto Costarricense
de Electricidad, the
agency responsible for
awarding
telecommunications
contracts.
Plea documents in the
case show that the
payments went directly
to the agency's
director. He in turn
shared his "earnings"
with a senior level
Costa Rican government
official.
The payments were made
to a board director for
ICE responsible for
awarding all
telecommunications
contracts. Sapsizian
told the court that the
ICE official was an
adviser to a senior
Costa Rican government
official and that the
payments were shared
with that senior
official.
The payments, funneled
through one of Alcatel's
Costa Rican consulting
firms, were intended to
encourage the ICE
official and the senior
government official to
exercise their influence
to create a bidding
process favoring
Alcatel's products. ICE
awarded a $149 million
contract to Alcatel in
August 2001.
Former Costa Rican
president, Miguel Ángel
Rodríguez, and ICE
board director, José
Antonio Lobo and Hernán
Bravo are waiting
trial on charges of
receiving bribes from
Alcatel executives. It
was Lobo, a close ally
and friend of Rodríguez, who implicated
the former president.
Sapsizian was employed
with the company more
than 20 years at the
time the corrupt
payments took place and
was the assistant to the
vice president for
Alcatel's Latin American
region. For the generous
donation he oversaw,
Sapsizian won Alcatel a
us$149 million contract
in August of 2001.
In addition to prison,
Sapsizian was ordered to
serve three years of
supervised release, a
fine of us$261,500, and
to pay a us$200 special
assessment. The FBI and
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement continue to
investigate the case.
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