Investigation begins to investigate suspected bribery involving the President of Guatemala | Corruption News

Anti-corruption prosecutors are investigating the alleged bribery of President Alejandro Gamatai by Russian businessmen.

The Office of the Attorney General of Guatemala said on Friday that Guatemalan prosecutors have begun investigating allegations that Russian businessmen bribed President Alejandro Giammattei to obtain a terminal in one of the country’s main ports.

Juan Luis Pantaleon, a spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General of Guatemala, said that the anti-corruption prosecutor has initiated an investigation and emphasized that Giammattei is not currently under investigation because the impeachment process has not yet begun .

Giammattei’s spokesperson Patricia Letona (Patricia Letona) said that the president’s office did not immediately comment on the matter.

These allegations were originally made publicly by Juan Francisco Sandoval, who was the head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Impunity (FECI) in Guatemala until his move The Attorney General of Guatemala Maria Porras (Maria Porras) in July.

According to Sandoval, four Russian businessmen with mining interests in Guatemala put bribes into the carpet in April, seeking space to build a wharf in the Caribbean port of Santo Tomas de Castilla. The Guatemalan mining company associated with these individuals denied that it had paid any bribes.

Sandoval get away Guatemala stated in July that he was fired after the attorney general prevented him from trying to investigate corruption related to Jamatai. The president denied involvement in corruption.

The Attorney General’s Office also said on Friday that it had issued an arrest warrant to arrest Sandoval for alleged violation of public office and obstruction of criminal proceedings.

The bribery case related to Jamatah is the latest in a series of cases Corruption allegations Engulf the new president of this Central American country.

Giammattei’s former President Jimmy Morales faced possible prosecution after the UN-backed anti-corruption agency CICIG accused him of corruption, but he survived when the Guatemalan Congress voted not to impeach him in 2017.

Two years ago, the former President Otto Perez was forced to resign and was imprisoned for a multimillion-dollar corruption case led by CICIG. Morales allowed CICIG’s authorization to expire in 2018 and expelled the organization from Guatemala.

Perez is still in prison.