According to a resolution, the Criminal Court from the Second Judicial Circuit of San José annulled the preliminary hearing in INS-Reaseguros case due to a violation of the principle of impartiality by the judge who had issued the case. This benefits former president of the Republic Miguel Ángel Rodríguez.
The events occurred in April, 2015 when the Criminal Court, headed by judge Saylin Ballestero Mora, ordered the trial to that cause.
However, this judge had been reported before the Judicial Inspection Court by Rodríguez Echeverria, for her actions during the ICE-Alcatel case, so judge Ballestero Mora should not be involved in the case.
For these reasons, the defense filed a motion for procedural defect against the preliminary hearing, and the Criminal Court from the Second Judicial Circuit of San José found that the judge had to explain herself but she did not. This led to declare the appeal as an absolute violation of the principle of impartiality in conducting the preliminary hearing and therefore the resolution ordering a trial.
This comes three months after the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court confirmed the final acquittal of former President of the Republic Miguel Angel Rodriguez, for the famous ICE-Alcatel case.
The judges rejected the alleged crimes of embezzlement and aggravated corruption to the detriment of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) in which Rodriguez and the accused Guido Sibaja, Eduardo Fonseca, Eliseo Vargas, Joaquín Alberto Fernández, Luis Adrián Quirós and Edgar Valverde were accused.