Immigration office will use
call center to set visits


The immigration department will use a telephone call center to set appointments for foreigners who must renew their residency documents.

In addition, the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería also will schedule appointments for foreigners only in the month in which their documents expire.

Foreigners have benefited from two decrees and an immigration regulation. These actions extended the life of their residency document automatically and without official processing. The downside was that some institutions, such as banks and government offices, and some private companies, such as airlines, did not recognize the automatic extensions.

At the same time the immigration department was trying to work itself out of a mess involving devices that issued new plastic identity cards with ink that rubbed off.

The problem with the documents have been remedied, according to immigration officials, and they are issuing the plastic card for all types of residency. The plastic contains a photo, a user's signature and biometric data for positive identification. The card resembles the cédula carried by a Costa Rican.

The cards are produced by machinery and a patented process from Lasercard, a California company that also makes the green cards for the U.S. government.

The immigration department established the telephone number 900-1234567 for foreigners who wish to renew their documents. A press release cautioned that the telephone had to be capable of making 900-line calls.

The telephone system will operate from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Foreigners also can make appointments in person at the immigration offices in La Uruca from 8 a.m. to noon weekdays.

Mario Zamora, the immigration director, said that he was counting on the cooperation of foreigners to seek renewal appointments only in the month that their current document expired. The department is now taking appointments for those foreigners whose documents expired in May of any year.

Banco Elca chief convicted
and gets 23 years in prison

A three-judge judicial panel found the former chief of Banco Elca guilty on four counts and sentenced him to a total of 23 years in prison Wednesday.

The convicted man is Carlos Alvarado Moya. He was convicted of aggravated fraud, fraudulent administration, of use of privileged information and of supplying false information to government regulators, according to a late afternoon bulletin from the Poder Judicial.

Judges sentenced him to eight years on the first two counts and four years and three years on the third and fourth counts.

The fraud charge stems from the way Alvarado handled a deposit of some $3 million made by the company Night Glow S.A. The principals of that firm were identified as  Maynard Garber, who was known here as Robert Fox or Chuck Garber, and José Ricardo Rojas Rodríguez.

The judicial panel awarded Night Glow $3.4 million as damages, interest and fees. The award was against Alvarado and the failed bank. It was unclear if the bank has assets.

Statements before the trial said that Alvarado told Night Glow he deposited the money in an offshore bank in Belize, but that such a bank did not exist. The full decision will be released later.

One man, Eliécer Alvarado Arias, was eliminated from the trial because he is dead, the judges said. A third man, Javier Filloy Esna, was absolved for lack of proof, said the bulletin.

Elca was closed by government regulators June 29, 2004.

The central office is in Sabana Este between Calle 38 and Calle 40 on Avenida 4.

A number of expats who live here under the status of rentista maintained accounts at Banco Elca with the $60,000 deposit stipulated by immigration rules. In addition, several major organizations that cater to expats, including the Association of Residents of Costa Rica, maintained accounts there.

Many of the smaller depositors with accounts of up to $10,000 received all or part of their funds back via liquidation. However, major depositors were left hanging.
Officials said that the bank failed to maintain the required 10 percent reserve, so they closed it. Then they began to investigate.

Judges Wednesday ordered Alvarado to prison for eight months while the sentence is considered in a higher court because they considered him a flight risk.

* Portions of this news story appeared as an updated version of the Tuesday paper.

Próspero Fernández work
designed to continue flow


The contractor on the Caldera highway, Autopistas del Sol, has reached an agreement with transport officials to keep the Autopista Próspero Fernández open even though work is being done.

The principal job is in widening the highway from four to six lanes between the intersection with the Circunvalación and the Escazú intersection, said the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transporte.

The contractor is now at work at the Guachipelín, and there is no interruption of traffic, said the ministry.
The contractor has agreed to do a lot of the work like installing pavement, at night, said the ministry.

In a few weeks the work will begin in Escazú, and some restrictions on travel will be made under the supervision of the Policía de Tránsito, said the ministry.

Some 80,000 vehicles use the highway each day, the ministry said. At some point officials considered closing the entire highway in stages. That idea has been discarded.

The $230 million job eventually will cover the whole stretch from Parque la Sabana to Caldera on the Pacific. The work on the Próspero Fernández is step one, and this includes reconstruction all the way to Ciudad Colón.

Route 32 still being closed


Despite the holiday, workers will be painting lines on highway 32 today, and the route between Limón and San José will be closed at times between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., said the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes.

Transport officials will continue to close the highway completely during daylight hours on weekends when the weather permits painting, they said.  Workers are redoing center lines and lines at the margins of the pavement.

Another Chinese official to visit


The vice prime minister of the People's Republica of China will be visiting Costa Rica from next Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning, said Casa Presidencial. The official is Hui Liangyu. The delegation will be about 20 persons.