The year2004 saw a government corruption scandal came to the boil in Costa Rica, making headlines across the globe. Some three years on and the Chief Prosecutor’s Office has finally filed charges against the Former President, Miguel Angerl Rodriguez who was in power from 1998 till 2002. Another 10, unnamed people have been charged also.

Although the exact details of the charges have been kept under wraps, it is thought that the former president is likely to be faced with aggravated corruption and illicit enrichment for alledgedly receiving more than $800,000 in bribe style handouts fro the Alcatel, the French Telecommunications company, in order to gain a $149 Million contract to provide GSM Cell phone services to the Costa Rican Electricity Institue(ICE).

On top of the charges that the Chief Prosecutor’s office are bringing against the former President, the ICE have been given until today to decide as to whether they themselves will also file a private prosecution for the damage done to themselves, and/or an “accion civil resarcitora” which is a civil case seeking monetary compensation for damages that may have been taken.

There is also speculation of other dealings with the Taiwanese, where it is alledged that Rodriguez revieved $1.4 Million in a separate incident. He claims that this was not for personal use and that it was a $2 Million “Loan”. However the cheques were paid into a Panamanian Bank and totaled $1.4, so something clearly doesn’t add up!

It seems that Rodriguez’s behaviour and the many other scandals over the years that have seen presidents involved have not only damaged their reputations, but has also caused people to loose faith in politics altogether. This was illustrated in the elections last year when over 35% of Costa Rica’s voting population decided to stay at home on polling day, giving up their right to influence who runs the country.

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