U.S.
Court
Rejects
ICE's
Claim
Of
Victim
In
Alcatel
Bribery
Case
A
Miami
Federal
Court
judge
rejected
a
claim
by
the
Instituto
Costarricense
de
Electricidad
(ICE)
for
victim
status
in
the
Alcatel
bribery
case,
accepting
a
settlement
between
the
US
Justice
Department
and
the
French
telecom,
Alcatel-
Lucent,
over
bribes
paid
in
Costa
Rica.
Alcatel
had
agreed
to
settle
a
massive
corruption
investigation
in
December
and
pay
a
penalty
of
us$137
million
dollars
to
U.S.
authorities.
The
deal
was
held
up
when
ICE
argued
that
it
should
be
treated
as a
victim
and
recover
damages
as a
result
from
the
bribes.
The
Justice
Department
argued
that
ICE
directly
benefited
from
the
bribes
and
should
not
be
considered
a
victim.
This
is
the
first
time
a
state
entity
has
claimed
victim
status
in a
Foreign
Corrupt
Practices
Act
case.
The
bribes
were
paid
back
in
2000
when
Costa
Rica
was
looking
for
a
provider
to
install
the
first
GSM
cellular
network
in
the
country,
a
year
when
Miguel
Angel
Rodriguez
was
president.
Alcatel
won
the
contract
bit
to
install
a
400.000
cellular
network
for
ICE
for
the
sum
of
us$149
million
dollars.
It
was
later
learned
that
Alcatel
officials
in
Costa
Rica
and
with
the
knowledge
of
regional
executives
paid
up
to
us$2
million
dollars
in
bribes,
including
to
Rodriguez.
In
April
this
year,
a
Costa
Rican
court
sentenced
Rodriguez
to
five
years
in
prison
for
accepting
some
us$800.000
in
bribes
from
Alcatel
and
for
being
the
"instigator"
in
the
exhorting
bribes
from
the
telecom.
Several
others
related
to
the
case
were
also
sentenced
from
prison
from
taking
part
and
sharing
in
the
bribery
case,
that
broke
when
José
Antonio
Lobo,
a
close
friend
and
associate
of
Rodriguez,
turned
state
evidence.
In
the
U.S.,
a
former
Alcatel
executive
pleaded
guilty
last
year,
while
another
remains
fugitive.
ICE
argued
that
the
U.S.
Treasury
should
not
get
all
the
money,
arguing
that
the
telecom
cannot
be
penalized
for
the
actions
of a
few
of
its
people
accepting
bribes. |
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