SAN JOSE, Oct. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Costa Rica's former president Miguel Angel Rodriguez was jailed on Friday for six months pendinginvestigation of corruption charges against him.

    Rodriguez, who had been under house arrest for two weeks after his return from Washington, has been taken to a prison outside thecapital San Jose, where ex-president Rafael Angel Caleron is held.

    Rodriguez, who governed the country between 1998 and 2002, was forced to quit as secretary general of the Organization of American States on Oct. 8.

    He is accused of receiving 55,000 US dollars from French telecommunications company Alcatel in 2001 for the approval of a 158-million-dollar contract.

    Rodriguez was the second former president of the country to be locked up in a week.

    Caleron, who was president from 1990 to 1994, was jailed for upto nine months as a corruption probe against him went on.

    He is accused of receiving over half a million dollars as commission of a Finnish loan of 39.5 million dollars.

    Caleron's immediate successor, Jose Maria Figueres, has also been accused of illegally receiving 900,000 dollars between 2000 and 2003 from Alcatel. He is chief executive officer of the Geneva-based World Economic Forum.

    These corruption cases have shaken Costa Ricans, who had been proud of their political stability in a turbulent Latin America.

    President Abel Pacheco this week described corruption as "cancer" and vowed to cut it off from the society. Enditem