Costa Rica's ICE
Sues Alcatel In
Miami Court
The
Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad
(ICE) - Costa
Rica's state
telecom - filed
a complaint in
the Miami-Dade
County Circuit
Court against
Alcatel Lucent.
The claim by ICE
is for
violations of
civil
racketeering and
other Florida
law in
connection with
Alcatel's
bribery and
corruption case
ongoing in Costa
Rica, where
Alcatel paid
offer millions
of dollars to
win the GSM
cellular network
in Costa Rica
back in 2000.
If successful,
the lawsuit will
allow ICE to
recover three
times the amount
of its damages.
The complain
alleges that
Alcatel's
bribery and
corruption acts
in Costa Rica
were partially
directed from
Miami and was
part of a
broader
world-wide
scheme.
Earlier this
year, Alcatel
Lucent announced
that it had
reached
agreement with
the U.S.
Department of
Justice and the
U.S. Securities
and Exchange
Commission
whereby it would
admit to
violations of
the U.S. Foreign
Corrupt
Practices Act
(generally
prohibits
bribing foreign
officials) and
pay criminal
fines and
disgorge profits
in an amount
over us$137
million in order
to avoid
criminal
prosecution and
an SEC
enforcement
action in
connection with
its actions in
Costa Rica and
in other
countries.
Alcatel, now
Alcatel Lucent,
also announced
that, as part of
that agreement,
certain of its
subsidiaries
would plead
guilty to
violations of
that Act.
Meanwhile in
Costa Rica,
former Costa
Rican president,
Miguel Angel
Rodriguez
(1998-2002) and
eight others are
in the middle of
trial, charged
with corruption
in the case
known as
ICE-ALCATEL and
could face years
in jail if found
in guilty.
Rodriguez and
the other are
charged with
receiving
payments from
Alcatel to
influence the
state telecom
ICE to award it
the multi
million dollar
contract for the
first GSM
cellular network
in Costa Rica
that saw the
installation of
400.000 lines.
Christian
Sapsizian, a
French citizen
and former
Alcatel
executive in
Costa Rica
entered into a
plea agreement
in the Miami US
District Court
and sentenced to
30 months prison
and three years
supervised
release, along
with the
forfeiture of
$261,500, after
admitting to
taking part in
the scheme that
say us$2.5
million dollars
paid out to
Rodriguez and
others.
Sapsizian was a
20-year Alcatel
employee and
served as the
company's deputy
vice president
for Latin
America
Since, ICE has
cut all business
relations with
Alcatel,
switching over
the Alcatel
network to the
Ericsson
network.
ICE's outgoing
president, Pedro
Pablo Quiros,
asserts that
Alcatel acted
criminally in
Costa Rica and
although it has
taken a step in
the right
direction by
admitting its
criminal
behavior, it
must pay for the
significant
damages it has
caused to ICE."
The lawsuit in
Florida is
significant
because U.S.
laws offer
victims of
racketeering
enterprises.
Alcatel-Lucent
was formed when
Alcatel merged
with Lucent
Technologies on
December 1, 2006
Alcatel-Lucent
is a global
telecommunications
corporation,
headquartered in
Paris, France.
It provides
telecommunications
solutions to
service
providers,
enterprises and
governments
around the
world. |
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