A federal Grand Jury in Miami has indicted Edgar Valverde, ex-general manager of the Costa Rican operation of the international telecommunications company, Alcatel, on 10 counts including bribery and money laundering, reported the leading daily newspaper La Nacion today.

The jury accused Valverde of bribing Costa Rican officials to obtain a multimillion dollar contract for cell phone service under the government monopoly communications company, ICE. On Dec. 19, another grand jury indicted the second vice president for Alcatel’s Latin American operations, Christian Sapsizian, on much the same charges.

Sapsizian and Valverde are accused of conspiring to disburse $2.5 million in illegal payments to Costa Rican officials between February 2000 and September of 2004 to obtain the contract for the company. The jury accused Valverde of illegal payments to a then-director of the government monopoly ICE who, in turn, was also an “advisor” to a high government official.

Meanwhile, the case continues to be investigated in Costa Rica where reports of the judicial investigative agency, OIJ, allege that the $2.5 million in bribes was handled by former ICR director Jose Antonion Lobo. The reports add that Lobo paid nearly $590,000 to former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who was not named in the grand jury indictment.

Consulted by La Nacion, Valverde’s defense attorney Erick Ramos did not comment on the charges, saying that, naturally, his priority was in handling charges in Costa Rica.

The United States has jurisdiction in such cases under the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, which prohibits U.S. companies doing business abroad from such practices as bribery.

3/21/7

Happy Spring! There’s been a small delay in the plans, about 3 days, we hope. The guys have been making placas, as they are called, for the footings, and are finishing that today. They are hoping to start on Thursday, next week.

We are having the highest, and the lowest, tides of the year this week. Linda and I went to the beach with Raz twice yesterday to see it. At low tide, the whole bay is mud, at high tide the road is under water in places. Normally, it’s not that radical. I have not had much experience with tides, and it is very impressive to see the landscape change so much in 6 hours. We stayed until after dark last night. Raz was comfortable, and we needed the privacy of the empty beach.

Today, we are taking Raz to the vets. He has to be put down. He has gone too far. He never expressed pain in any way, all his life, but, I am sure he is suffering, and is getting no joy out of his walks or treats. We will miss him.