Guatemala launches investigation into corruption allegations linked to president

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Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei attends a press conference with US Vice President Kamala Harris (not pictured) at Palacio Nacional de la Cultura in Guatemala City, Guatemala on Harris’ first international trip as a vice -President in Guatemala and Mexico, June 7. 2021. REUTERS / Carlos Barria

GUATEMALA CITY, September 3 (Reuters) – Guatemalan prosecutors have opened an investigation into allegations that Russian businessmen paid President Alejandro Giammattei a bribe to secure a dock at one of the main ports country, the attorney general’s office said on Friday.

Juan Luis Pantaleon, spokesman for Guatemala’s attorney general’s office, said anti-corruption prosecutors have opened the investigation, stressing that Giammattei is not currently under investigation because no impeachment proceedings are pending. had begun.

Patricia Letona, spokesperson for Giammattei, said the president’s office did not have an immediate comment on the matter.

The allegations were first raised in public by Juan Francisco Sandoval, who was the head of the Office of the Special Prosecutor of Guatemala against Impunity (FECI) until his dismissal by the Attorney General of Guatemala, Maria Porras, in July.

According to Sandoval, the four Russian businessmen with mining interests in Guatemala sent the bribe inside a carpet in April, seeking space to establish a wharf in the Caribbean port of Santo Tomas de Castilla. The Guatemala-based mining company linked to the men has denied that a bribe was paid.

Sandoval, who fled Guatemala in July, said he was fired after the attorney general prevented him from trying to investigate corruption cases related to Giammattei. The president denied being involved in corruption.

The attorney general’s office also said on Friday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Sandoval on suspicion of violating his duties and obstructing criminal proceedings.

The Giammattei-related corruption case is the latest in a series of corruption allegations that have engulfed the recent presidents of the Central American country.

Giammattei’s predecessor, Jimmy Morales, faced potential prosecution after a UN-backed anti-corruption body known as CICIG accused him of corruption, but he survived when the Guatemalan Congress voted not to impeach him in 2017.

Two years earlier, former president Otto Perez was forced to resign and was jailed in a multi-million dollar corruption case led by CICIG. Morales in 2018 allowed the CICIG’s mandate to expire and expelled the group from Guatemala.

Perez remains in prison.

Reporting by Sofia Menchu, edited by Rosalba O’Brien

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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