Guatemalan justice ordered capture of former anti-corruption prosecutor who was fired for investigating the government

A Guatemalan court transformed an arrest warrant against the former anti-corruption prosecutor, Juan Francisco Sandoval, for the crimes of obstruction of criminal proceedings and breach of duties.

Public prosecutor spokesman Juan Luis Pantaleón confirmed the information to the agency on Friday. PA. The case is before the Seventh Tribunal and is subject to reservation. The arrest warrant is issued after Thursday, September 2, the Attorney General, Consuelo PorrasHe indicated through a message sent on social networks that Sandoval was under investigation.

“Investigations are carried out for the disclosure of confidential information that takes place after discharge from the institution. Several citizens have come forward to report any irregularities in writing. (committed by Sandoval), ”Porras said.

Juan Francisco Sandoval, who Until July 23, he was the head of the Special Prosecutor against Impunity (FECI), he was fired by Porras. Then he left the country, but before that, Sandoval reported that his dismissal was due to the fact that he was investigating President Alejandro Giammattei and government officials.

Former Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval Alfaro assured Thursday that Consuelo Porras maintained a “strategy“of criminalization and persecution against him.

“The Attorney General is at the forefront of a strategy to criminalize and prosecute all those who have contributed, for years, to the strengthening of justice and the fight against corruption and impunity.“Sandoval said in a statement posted on its social networks.

The lawyer thus responded to the statements of the Attorney General on Thursday, in which he assured that Sandoval “uses the media to generate a campaign of revenge” against the prosecution, where he worked for 17 years.

Sandoval said in the statement that the Attorney General “will try to hold me accountable for a series of crimes”, after Porras sent a message to the country in which he indicated it for allegedly not having carried out investigations in the computer system of the public prosecutor’s office.

The anti-corruption prosecutor pointed out that Porras intervened this year in his work as head of the Office of the Special Prosecutor against Impunity (FECI), ending an investigation with “indications of the possible involvement of the President of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, in structures of corruption “.

Alleged corruption by ports

One of these clues was based on “A testimony which indicated to the president to receive funds from businessmen interested in the control of port operations in Santo Tomás de Castilla”, in the northeastern department of Izabal, about 300 kilometers northeast of the Central American country.

Sandoval pointed out that, “contrary to what the prosecutor (Porras) suggests, the FECI proceedings did not violate the president’s right to a preliminary hearing ”.

The lawyer also blurted out that the prosecutor “uses the same means of communication that he questions” and that, in his case, it was expressed “only to convey verifiable facts of public interest”.

Sandoval, 38, has been a key player in the fight against corruption in Guatemala, which boomed between 2014 and 2019 at the hands of former Attorney General (2014-2018) Thelma Aldana as well as the director of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), Colombian lawyer Iván Velásquez.

Between the three lawyers They have charged more than 250 people with corruption, including MPs, ministers, government officials, elite businessmen and former presidents and presidents.

The dismissal of Sandoval, by decision of Porras because of alleged “humiliations” against him, provoked several protests against Giammattei and Porras in recent weeks and also several roadblocks by indigenous communities to demand their resignation from their functions.

(With information from AP and EFE)

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