Costa Rica has arrested a former president on suspicion of corruption, days after placing another ex-president under house arrest in connection with a bribery investigation.
Mr Rafael Angel Calderon's detention was the latest blow to Costa Rica's image as "the Switzerland of Central America," a country supposedly less corrupt than its neighbours.
Judicial sources said that Mr Calderon, who ruled from 1990-94, was detained for questioning about a $39 million loan from Finland to Costa Rica in 2001 to improve public hospitals.
Mr Calderon had left office at the time of the loan, but he retained links to power and helped broker the deal between the two governments.
Prosecutors say they found $440,500 of the loan in Calderon's bank account. They have until Friday to decide whether to ask a judge to keep him in detention. He denies any wrongdoing.
Last Saturday, a judge put ex-president Mr Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who briefly headed the Organisation of American States (OAS), under house arrest for six months while he is investigated for bribery.
Mr Rodriguez, who quit the OAS post on October 8th after just two weeks, is accused of taking a $550,000 bribe in a 2001 telecommunications contract. He was president from 1998 to 2002.