The Scales Of
Justice Turn
Today Former
President
Rodríguez and
Eight Others
The trial of
former Costa
Rican president,
Miguel Angel
Rodríguez, and
eight others
accused of
corruption in
the ICE-Alcatel
case, will final
begin this
morning, after a
false start last
Wednesday.
The 70 year old
former president
and eight
co-defendants
are accused of
taking bribes in
exchange for the
giving the
French telecom's
Latin America
unit the us$149
million contract
to install Costa
Rica's first GSM
cellular
network.
The charges
carry a maximum
of four years
prison for each
of the
defendants,
though it is
unlikely that
former president
Rodríguez will
see a jail cell
even if
convicted
because Costa
Rica generally
provides
probation to
those with no
criminal record
who get
sentenced to
four years or
less.
That is no
comfort for
Rodríguez, who
for more than
five years has
been jailed,
under house
arrest and
restrictive
movements during
the
investigation
phase of the
trial, regaining
his full liberty
only recently.
After ending his
term in office
in 2001,
Rodríguez became
head of the
Organization of
American States
(OAS), the first
Costa Rican to
hold such a
post, resigning
only one month
into the job to
come back to
Costa Rica to
face the
allegations,
where he was
promptly
arrested and put
on public
display by
judicial
officials.
Rodríguez has
maintained his
innocence during
all this time,
including
accusing the
judicial system
of political
persecution and
the trampling of
his rights,
writing a book
"Di
la Cara"
(I gave face).
Although he is
confident, the
former president
fears he will be
convicted in the
same way former
president,
Rafael Angel
Calderón was
last year in the
Fischel-CCSS
case.
Calderón was
found guilty of
corruption in
that case and
sentenced to
five years
prison, a
verdict which is
currently under
appeal.
Rodriguez said
the favorable
treatment given
to Jose Antonio
Lobo, a former
friend of
Rodríguez and
former ICE
executive and
the main witness
against him,
supports his
claims of
politically
persecution.
"It's unfair,
illegal and
unconstitutional
... he was the
person who was
part of
management, he
made the
contacts, and
received the
money,"
Rodriguez said.
"He not only
confessed to
that but also to
another five
crimes, and yet
they were not
investigated ...
that's abusive
on the part of
prosecutors."
Lobo has
testified that
he accepted a
us$2.4 million
for the cell
phone contract
with Alcatel and
that Rodriguez
had asked for a
majority of the
money and had
received
$510,000 in
cash.
Rodriguez
acknowledged
getting $140,000
from Lobo, but
he said it was
merely a loan to
finance his
campaign for the
OAS leadership.
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