Former Costa Rican President Rafael Ángel Calderón Jr. (1990–94) yesterday became the second former head of state to be arrested in the past week, after giving a declaration to the Prosecutor’s Office in response to corruption allegations.
A judge had yet to decide by press time whether to grant the Prosecutor’s Office request for six months of preventive detention or to order house arrest.
On Tuesday, Eliseo Vargas, former president of the Costa Rican Social Security System (Caja), told prosecutors that Calderón was the mastermind behind the distribution of a $9.2 million commission among high-ranking Caja and government officials. The payment was tied to a $39.5 million government contract to buy medical equipment, Channel 7 TV News reported Wednesday.
The contract included a $32 million loan from the government of Finland for the purchase of medical equipment from Medko Medical, a Finnish company and subsidiary of Instrumentarium, to modernize Costa Rica’s public hospitals.
Last month Channel 7 reported allegations that Calderón received $500,000 from the commission. Vargas’s declaration this week identified the former president as the alleged leader of the scheme. Vargas also accused Calderón of trying to cover up his involvement, Channel 7 reported.
Calderón told reporters Wednesday: “Eliseo told a great number of lies. He is desperate because he has spent the last month and a half in jail and wants to see how he can get out.” His lawyer, Gonzalo Castellón, defended him as the investigation continued.
As the broader ICE and Caja corruption investigations advance, more suspects have testified and the list of names has grown. Authorities are examining a widening network of individuals and companies, many European, alleged to have paid “prizes” to secure multimillion-dollar government contracts.
Vargas’s testimony placed Calderón at the center of the Caja case. Yesterday, after making his scheduled declaration to prosecutors, Calderón was arrested.
Before Vargas’s account, former President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez was in the spotlight. Rodríguez returned to Costa Rica on Oct. 15 from Washington, D.C., where he resigned as OAS Secretary General amid allegations that he took money linked to a government contract with a French company. On Saturday, a court ordered him to six months of house arrest.
Earlier this month, former ICE board member José Antonio Lobo told prosecutors that Rodríguez claimed 60% of a $2.4 million “prize” for awarding a $149 million contract to French telecommunications firm Alcatel. As with the Caja case, that “prize” was allegedly divided among ICE officials and senior government figures.
Former Alcatel Costa Rica manager Edgar Valverde, arrested last week and ordered to three months of preventive detention, told prosecutors on Oct. 14 that Alcatel turned over $8 million in commissions, La Nación reported Saturday. He said such payments were practically a “requirement” in negotiations with ICE and alleged they were authorized by Alcatel’s Latin America vice president, Christian Sapsizian. Valverde said he did not speak directly with Rodríguez, but that Lobo told him he was backed by the former president.
Valverde cited recipients of Alcatel funds including Lobo, former ICE director José Joaquín Fernández, former ICE advisor Guido Sibaja, and former Caja president Eliseo Vargas, who was then the PUSC party leader in Congress, the party of both Rodríguez and Calderón.
Though the Caja and ICE cases involve separate institutions, investigators say the scandals are intertwined. Alleged payments moved through a web of private firms and offshore accounts in Panama and the United States, often involving the same people and their family members.
A separate case at the National Learning Institute (INA) also advanced. Former INA executive president Carlos Monge admitted Sunday on Channel 7 that he received more than $100,000 in exchange for awarding a government contract to a private firm. In a letter to Chief Prosecutor Francisco Dall’Anesse, Monge urged other officials who “have fallen before temptation” to come forward.
The Prosecutor’s Office economic crimes division is investigating Monge and former INA director Rafael Robert for allegedly receiving funds from Italian company Electtronica Veneta, from which INA purchased $8.9 million in training equipment, according to La Nación. Monge wrote from China, where he is on business until month’s end, saying he will return and make himself available to prosecutors. Robert resigned from the INA board Oct. 14 after La Nación asked him about an account tied to the alleged payments. Electtronica Veneta’s president, Antonio Romano, denied sending any money to Costa Rican officials.
In Costa Rica, Electtronica Veneta is represented by Grupo Multitech, whose president, former ICE engineer Rodrigo Méndez, is alleged to be a link between the ICE and Caja cases. Méndez, arrested in Nicaragua and ordered to six months of preventive detention, is alleged to have received more than $132,000 in the two cases.
Allegations in the ICE scandal extend beyond Alcatel. Companies that allegedly provided gifts or prizes for ICE contracts include Sweden’s Ericsson, Spain’s Grupo Unión Fenosa and Instalaciones Inabensa, and Costa Rican firm Condicel. In testimony on Oct. 15, Lobo also implicated Cibertec International, which he says paid gifts to ICE employees and board members in exchange for a $6.6 million anti-phone-fraud contract. He alleged the payments were made by a company named Teletec but said he did not know how the companies are related, according to La Nación.
(Tico Times reporters Steven J. Barry, María Gabriela Díaz, Robert Goodier and Katherine Stanley contributed to this report.)
