Otto Pérez Molina and his vice-president found guilty seven years after they were forced from office but culture of impunity persists
Jeff Abbott writes in The Guardian about the sentencing of the former president and his vice-president following their being found guilty of corruption. Both were accused of corruption in 2015 following an investigation by the CICIG and the case led to huge protests which brought together many and varied aspects of Guatemala society.
The fight against corruption and impunity, however, continues to being made increasingly difficult through the concerted efforts of the country’s elites.
A Guatemalan court has found a former president and his vice-president guilty on two charges of corruption, in one of the most high-profile corruption cases in the Central American country.
The ruling against former president Otto Pérez Molina and his vice-president, Roxana Baldetti, on charges of illicit association and customs fraud come as a relief amid what is seen as the rollback of anti-corruption efforts. But the two were absolved of charges of illicit enrichment, due to lack of evidence.
The decision comes over seven years after the two were forced to resign from office, but for many analysts, the ruling does not come as a clear case of justice for their acts of corruption.
“In some ways justice has been done – but not completely,” said Edie Cux, a lawyer with the Guatemalan anti-corruption organization Acción Ciudadana.
“It sends a message of institutional weakness regarding cases dealing with corruption,” he said. “And to some extent, a message of impunity for cases of illicit enrichment.”
Pérez Molina and Baldetti were sentenced to 16 years in prison each for their part in a tax fraud scheme and a fine of just over $1m. Guatemala’s special prosecutor’s office against impunity, or FECI, had requested 30 years.
Both were accused of corruption after the April 2015 announcement of an investigation by the public prosecutor’s office in conjunction with the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, commonly known as Cicig, which uncovered extensive corruption in the country’s tax system that had enabled the theft of more than $120m.
The case led to massive protests that brought together diverse sectors of the country, including the middle class, small farmers and the business class, to demand the resignation of Pérez Molina and Baldetti.
You can read the full piece, with links and photos, here, Guatemala: former president sentenced to 16 years for corruption
Categories: Corruption, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Justice, Solidarity in Action
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