The Guatemalan prosecutor’s office filed a request on Wednesday to remove immunity against the President Bernardo Arevaloto answer for the alleged crimes of usurpation of functions and abuse of authority in an alleged case of corruption, in a new chapter of the disputes between the two parties.
In the year since he was elected, Arévalo has faced three requests to remove his immunity, all presented by the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI), which has sought through various causes to prevent him from accessing the Presidency and then force him to abandon it.
“The request is made to remove immunity for the crimes of abuse of authority and usurpation of functions for having given illegal instructions to the former Minister of Communications,” said the head of the FECI, Rafael Curruchiche, in a press conference.
The prosecution presented as evidence an audio leaked on social media of a conversation between the president and the former Minister of Communications, Jazmín de la Vega, about a payment mechanism to construction companies hired by the previous government.
According to the head of the FECI, among the companies that were paid was a construction company “linked” to the Guatemalan ambassador to the Organization of American States for some 8.5 million dollars.
“Mr. Curruchiche’s nonsense has no place in any criminal action, much less a preliminary trial. These actors have no credibility and the people of Guatemala know it,” Arévalo responded through the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency.
Curruchiche was included in the US State Department’s Engel list of corrupt actors and has been sanctioned by more than 40 countries for his intentions to “undermine democracy” in Guatemala.
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