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GUATEMALA CITY — A Guatemalan courtroom ordered Monday the arrests of Colombia’s lawyer basic and a former Colombian protection minister who led a U.N. anti-corruption mission in Guatemala.
Guatemalan prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, who himself has been sanctioned by the United States and different nations for allegedly interfering in corruption investigations, had requested that an appeals courtroom challenge the arrest orders for Colombia’s high prosecutor Luz Adriana Camargo Garzón, who was the chief of investigations of the Guatemala mission, and Iván Velásquez, who had led the mission and later was Colombia’s protection minister.
Curruchiche stated Camargo and Velásquez had dedicated illicit affiliation throughout their investigation into bribes paid to Guatemalan officers by Brazilian development large Odebrecht.
Along with former Guatemalan prosecutors working with the U.N. mission, Velásquez and Camargo have been a part of “a criminal structure led by the former CICIG commissioner,” utilizing the Spanish initials of the U.N. mission, Curruchiche alleged.
Curruchiche had way back targeted his investigation on an settlement the anti-corruption prosecutors had signed with Odebrecht that may supply decreased penalties in change for the corporate’s cooperation within the investigation. His boss, Prosecutor General Consuelo Porras, has additionally been sanctioned by the U.S. and different governments for blocking corruption investigations. Last week, a U.N. skilled warned her workplace was utilizing legal regulation to pursue enemies.
Velásquez responded through X after studying of the accusations.
“So now the corrupt Guatemalan attorney general and her prosecutor Curruchiche – designated as corrupt and sanctioned by the United States and the European Union – extend their persecution for Luz Adriana Camargo and me,” Velásquez wrote. “My solidarity with the former officials and so many Guatemalan citizens who the Attorney General’s Office has forced into exile.”
Camargo didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Among these former Guatemalan prosecutors pressured into exile was Juan Francisco Sandoval, who led the particular prosecutor’s workplace towards impunity.
Sandoval, who led the Odebrecht investigation with assist from the U.N. mission and has been residing in exile within the United States, stated final month in an announcement that Curruchiche’s investigation was “a sham and a manipulation strategy.”
The U.N. mission operated in Guatemala from 2007 to 2019, when then-President Jimmy Morales determined to not renew its mandate, after it linked members of his household to a case.
It had labored with Guatemalan prosecutors to take down legal constructions within the nation, sending judges, prosecutors, different public officers, together with former presidents to trial for corruption.
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AP reporter Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia contributed to this report.
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