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Guatemalan ex-president linked to new scandal


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Guatemalan ex-president linked to new scandal

SONIA PEREZ D., Associated Press


GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Former Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina and his then-vice president led a criminal organization that collected at least $30 million in bribes to award a contract to build a port terminal, the country's attorney general and an international anti-corruption commission announced Friday.

In exchange, Grupo TCQ Terminal de Contenedores Quetzal got to build the terminal at the Pacific coast location of Puerto Quetzal and hold a 25-year concession to operate it worth $255 million, authorities said. Perez Molina signed the contract with the Spanish firm in 2013 while he was president.

"Since Perez Molina was elected in November 2011, the paperwork for this project started quickly," said Attorney General Thelma Aldana. "A criminal group formed ... having Otto Perez Molina and Roxana Baldetti as this structure's leaders."

Judge Miguel Angel Galvez called for Perez Molina and former vice president Roxana Baldetti to appear on money laundering charges next week.

"Perez Molina was given $4.2 million (in bribes)," said Ivan Velasquez, head of the U.N. commission investigating corruption in Guatemala and commonly known by its Spanish initials CICIG. He said Baldetti received the same amount.

Perez Molina's lawyer, Moises Galindo, said prosecutors will have to show where all the money his client allegedly received is. "I think the prosecutors are trying to build cases against my client because they can't support the first case of 'La Linea,'" Galindo said.

Perez Molina is behind bars and faces charges of permitting and benefiting from a ring that defrauded the state of millions of dollars in the so-called "La Linea" case. Businesses allegedly paid kickbacks to officials in exchange for lower import duties.

A son-in-law of Perez Molina was detained Friday for allegedly participating in the port terminal scheme, as well as Juan Jose Suarez, manager for the company TCQ.

The attorney general's office also requested that immunity be withdrawn from supreme court justice Douglas Charchal for ruling that the company did not have to pay construction permits. Velasquez said the judge received an armored Range Rover in return.

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-- (c) Associated Press 2016-04-16

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