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>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
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TODAY'S CONTENTS
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*News Digest
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WHAT'S NEW AT THE COSTA RICA PAGE!
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Our real estate section has just been totally updated with lots of
new listings, mostly in the residential real estate section, but also
we have a new rental on the rental page and some new additions to the
land for sale section.
http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/costa-rica/real.htm
We are adding new things every day, and when our merger comes with
COSTARICACENTER.COM, we will have a fully operational Mercado Central
for you to buy Costa Rican products over the internet from local merchants
[if you have a reputable business here, and want to sell through the
Mercado, just let us know. We can help you to accept credit cards and
all the major e-currencies on the net! We break through the Great Barrier
that many Costa Rican merchants face getting their products on the net!].
Hotels and tourist businesses will be able to add their own links, and you
will be able to place your own online classifieds and MUCH MUCH MORE!
Watch this newsletter for our official launch, coming soon!
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FEATURE ARTICLE
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DISCUSSION
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Please send your discussion topics to
costarica@destiny-worldwide.net
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SPONSOR'S MESSAGE
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NEWS DIGEST
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"Business & Beyond" to feature CINDE, Costa Rican Investment Board
Platinum Television Group will feature the Costa Rican Investment
Board, CINDE, for its innovative, educational television series,
Business & Beyond. It will be featured in a segment on "Economic
Development--Investment Opportunities Abroad."
The Costa Rican Investment Board (CINDE) assists foreign investors in
establishing their operations in Costa Rica. A private, nonprofit
organization, CINDE has an expert staff that will provide complete,
updated economic and business information, prepare customized visits to
the country, assist in making initial contacts with suppliers and
professionals, and do any follow-up required to establish the operation.
All of these services are part of their free assistance.
For example, recently CINDE announced that Intel had invested $110 million
in Costa Rica for the manufacturing of "chipset" in addition to its already
successful operation in the country, because it has found good prospects in
Costa Rica's investment climate conditions.
Costa Rica assigns the utmost importance to the influx of foreign
investment into the country, not only for balance of payment reasons, but
most importantly as a significant contributor to the generation of
employment, technology transfer and diversification of exports. As a
rule, foreigners have exactly the same rights as locals for conducting
business in Costa Rica. Therefore, companies and individuals can
establish operations in several ways and in almost every industry
without limitations. This also means that the possibility of creating
strategic alliances between foreign and local companies is only limited
to identifying the right market opportunity and finding the right partners
in the country.
Within that context, CINDE works to foster Costa Rica's development, by
serving as a catalyst and facilitator for the investment process in the
country. From its non-political, non-sectorial interest position, CINDE
has excellent relations with both the public and the private sectors.
CINDE has reorganized itself and now concentrates in promoting Costa Rica
as a competitive investment site in three sectors that benefit from
significant strengths and advantages that the country has to offer:
Medical Devices, Electronics, and Services. A fourth sector, Special
Projects, includes projects in areas such as textiles, tourism, and
others.
CINDE's offices in New York and California proactively look for
expanding companies and provide tailor-made services to investors. An
additional team in Costa Rica advises on how to do business in the
country, creates customized itineraries according to the investor's
needs, and provides support during and after the establishment of
operations. CINDE develops a long-term relationship with the investor
established in the country and is committed to providing continued
assistance as may be required.
Costa Rica offers attractive tax incentives, other important foreign
corporations, preferential access to important markets, and highly
skilled and educated human resources among other advantages, as well as
the free professional assistance from CINDE. For more information, please
visit the official website at: http://www.cinde.or.cr./.
*Judicial Investigators Confirm Comptroller General Forged Signatures
The Comptroller General of Costa Rica, Alex Solís, forged 27 signatures
of family members in his power as an attorney, concluded the Judicial
Investigation Police (OIJ) at the request of a group of legislators
investigating alleged irregularities of the comptroller.
After learning of the OIJ report, Patriotic Bloc legislator Humberto Arce,
who originally filed the complaint against the comptroller, said the
evidence is sufficient to nullify the naming of Solís. The Legislative
Assembly named Solís to his position earlier this year.
Using handwriting analysis, the OIJ determined Solís forged the
signatures of his mother, his wife and his brother, while acting as
a lawyer.
The OIJ had determined in September that approximately 39 signatures
in the protocol of Solís - lawyer and notary - were false, but at that
time did not determine their author.
A special Legislative Assembly commission is investigating Solís in
relation to these alleged forgeries, and dozens of loans made to residents
of Pérez Zeledón, 100 kilometers south of San José, where he is from.
According to media reports, many of the loans Solís made were used by
unemployed people to travel illegally to the United States.
Solís has rejected the accusations, and attributes them to politicians
who are against him.
*FISCHEL-CAJA SCANDAL:
Eliseo Vargas Fingers Calderón
The Fischel-Caja scandal took on a new twist as former president of the
Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), Eliso Vargas, talked to
prosecutors on Tuesday to make a deal for a change in his housing
arrangements and charges dropped against his daughter, in exchange for
more incriminating information.
Vargas is preventive detention in the Cocorí jail in Cartago, but soon
could be home under house arrest and all investigations will be dropped
against his daughter for receiving a Toyota Rav4, paid by the Corporación
Fischel from funds received in connection the the us$39 Million dollar
loan from Finland.
Vargas told prosecutors that former president Rafael Ángel Calderón tried
to hide the deposit of us$520.000 dollars in Panama paid form the Finnish
loan.
In an interview that took some 12 hours, Vargas, detailed to prosecutors
how Calderón attempted to mask the movement of the funds as part of a
sale of stock in a Miami hotel.
Vargas also told prosecutors that it was Calderón who showed him how to
funnel funds to U.S. accounts and that an aide to former Panamanian
president, Mireya Moscoso, helped in opening the Panamanian accounts.
The statement by Vargas also indicated that Calderón was very worried
about covering up the payments made through the Sultana company in Panama
and had dealings with Fischel president, Walter Reiche Fischel, over the
movement of the funds.
According to Vargas, it was Calderón who decided how the "commission"
would be split up and who got what. Calderón paid out us$300.000 to
himself, another us$300.000 to Gerardo Bolaños (Calderon's law firm
partner) and another us$300.000 to Juan Carlos Sánchez.
Vargas got us$600.000 for his part, being told by the former president
that he deserved double the amount of the others, since he had been a
deputy in the Legislature and then president of the CCSS.
Vargas, who has been in preventive detention since September 7 and who
may soon see more liberty, also told prosecutors that he received a
payment from Alcatel. Through his friendship with Rodrigo Méndez, an
engineer at the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), he met
Edgar Valverde, the them president of Alcatel Costa Rica.
Vargas said that he was promised a "good" commission if Alcatel was able
to get the ICE contract to install 400.000 GSM cellular telephones lines
in Costa Rica, a contract that Alcatel did get and was worth
us$149 million dollars.
Former president Rafael Ángel Calderón is to appear before the Fiscalía
this morning (Thursday) to answer questions over the new allegations by
Vargas and could see the investigation place preventive measures against
the former president, as the case with former president Miguel Angel
Rodríguez who is under house arrest in the ICE-Alcatel scandal.
Calderón told the press that his is hurt by the allegations by Vargas,
a man he had helped with his career and personally.
Gonzalo Castellón, Calderón's lawyer, says that the possibility exists
that his client (Calderón) may face stiffer measures against him
following the meeting this morning with prosecutors. He told the press
that his client will walk in the main doors of the 'Tribunales' in San
José like any other citizen, referring to the way former president
Rodríguez was escorted in handcuffs, as a common criminal, following his
arrival to Costa Rica last Friday.
Internal court house security has been intensified for this mornings
appearance by the former president and additional security measures
are in place to avoid the disorder around and inside the court buildings
last week with the arrival of Rodríguez.
*PRESIDENTIAL SCANDAL:
Taiwan's Impact of Costa Rica Scandal Widens
The Taiwan legislative foreign affairs committee yesterday temporarily
froze an annual secret budget to South and Central America nations,
demanding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) provide a clear
explanation of Taiwan's donations to former Costa Rican president Miguel
Angel Rodríguez.
KMT legislator Bill Sun, who initiated the freeze, argued that MOFA has
failed to provide an explanation of the situation, which might lead to
more damage to Taiwan and its ties with Costa Rica.
Costa Rican prosecutors confirmed that they are investigating alleged
payments by the government of Taiwan into accounts controlled by former
president Miguel Angel Rodríguez, who allegedly received US$200,000 in
2001 from the Foreign Ministry and another US$200,000 in 2002 from the
Taiwanese Embassy in San Jose.
Furthermore, there are reports that a Panamanian company controlled by
Rodriguez allegedly accepted two separate donations of US$500,000 each
and that Taiwan had provided a total of US$1.4 million in political
donations to Rodríguez over three years.
The MOFA, which submitted an explanation of Taiwan's contributions to its
Costa Rican counterpart Tuesday, has denied making any political donations
to former president Rodríguez, but has not made proper disclosure of such.
The MOFA also said that it had allocated US$200,000 for a personnel-
training project and international conferences in 2001 and 2002, after
the Foundation for Liberty and Human Development in Costa Rica sent a
letter to Taiwan's embassy seeking a donation of US$1.2 million, to
defray the cost of seminars and training."
The MOFA, however, claimed that it was unaware of the source of the
remaining US$1 million that was supposedly donated to Rodríguez's
Panamanian company.
Rodríguez's lawyers, however, said that the amount of US$200,000 dollars
sent in 2001 and 2002 to the foundation was a personal loan to the then
president.
Taiwanese banks arranged to loan Rodríguez the money through the
government in Taipei, lawyer Rafael Gairod said.
The MOFA yesterday declined to comments on the statement by Rodríguez's
lawyers.
Sun emphasized that the Legislature is seeking to exercise damage control
to ensure that Taiwan's image would not be further tarnished as the case
continues through the legal process.
To protect Taiwan's image, Sun said, a special committee was needed to
investigate the case.
He said yesterday that he was not satisfied with the MOFA's explanation,
which left many uncertainties concerning the secret budget, which would
be again reviewed by the Legislature's foreign affairs committee today.
*Abengoa Loses Costa Rican Contract
Spain's Abengoa SA 's Inabensa SA unit has lost a ?162.4 Million Euro
contract in Costa Rica due to bribery charges facing ex-president of
the country Miguel Angel Rodríguez, El Mundo reported, without citing a
source.
According to El Mundo, Abengoa's alledged involvement in the bribery
allegations facing the ex-president has led the Instituto Costarricense
de Electricidad (ICE) to cancel a contract to build the Miramar de
Puntarenas power plant.
Inabensa has been accused of making a us$100,000 payment to Rodríguez
for awarding the company a contract to lay underground power cables in
downtown San José, a project that is coming to the end of it's two
construction phase.
The contract was awarded to Inabensa when Rodríguez was president.
Inabensa said it 'has never made payments to public servants in order to
improve chances of winning a contract,' denying any involvement in a
bribery scandal surrounding the ex-president of Costa Rica.
Four e-mails published in the Spanish daily Al Día newspaper is
incriminating Inabensa in paying Rodriguez for awarding the company the
contract. Al Día cited unnamed judicial sources on Sunday, however, as
saying that the judge has refused to accept the e-mails as evidence,
calling them 'spurious.'
The Abengoa unit said it was awarded the power line contract because
'the second bidder offered a substantially higher price than Inabensa.'
Amid the allegations contractor Inabensa, as well as telecoms firms
Alcatel and Ericsson have been removed from the list of government
suppliers.
The awarding of telecoms contracts in Costa Rica has always been
somewhat mysterious, with a number having been won and then subsequently
lost again. However, the mounting publicity surrounding this scandal could
have serious consequences for Ericsson and Alcatel throughout the region.
For example, the president of Honduras, Ricardo Maduro, has said that
the country will begin an investigation into the conduct of Alcatel in
relation to contracts awarded to it by state-owned, fixed-line incumbent
Hondutel. Any more allegations against the company could see it
blacklisted in one of the fastest-growing telecoms regions in the world.
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94992. Costa Rica Digest, Oct. 21
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