Ex-Costa Rican leader goes on trial in bribery case that led to his resignation as OAS chief

Corruption trial begins for ex-Costa Rican leader

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez went on trial Wednesday in a corruption case that forced him to resign as head of the Organization of American States six years ago.

The trial, which the 70-year-old Rodriguez called political persecution, was then recessed until Monday after one of his eight co-defendants became ill.

Rodriguez is charged with taking bribes in exchange for giving the Latin American branch of the French telecom company Alcatel a $149 million cell phone contract with the Costa Rican Electricity Institute while he was president in 2001.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of four years in prison. However, Rodriguez would be unlikely to go to jail if convicted because Costa Rica generally provides probation to those with no criminal record who get sentenced to four years or less.

After ending his term as president in 2002, Rodriguez became head of the OAS. He resigned in 2004 after less than a month on the job and returned to Costa Rica to face the corruption charges.

Rodriguez said he hoped to demonstrate his innocence, but added that he feared he would be convicted.

“What one wants to make clear is that there is not a single reason to convict,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday.

Rodriguez said the favorable treatment given to Jose Antonio Lobo, a former top executive at Costa Rica’s power and telephone company and the main witness against him, suggests he is being politically persecuted.

“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 $2.4 million “prize” 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.