Guatemala Attorney General Faces Criminal Charges for Cover-up

21 May 2006

On Thursday, May 18, a lower court in Guatemala admitted a series of criminal charges filed by the Unidad de Accion Sindical y Popular against the Attorney General Juan Luis Florido and other public officials for alleged misconduct. The judge ordered an immediate investigation and is passing the case on to a special congressional committee to evaluate the Attorney General's immunity to the courts.

The charges implicate the Attorney General Juan Luis Florido, District Attorney Alejandro Arevalo, public auditors for the Ministerio Publico Jorge Luis Monzon and Cecilio Alvarado Martinez, and public auditors for the tax administration Edgar Adquijay and Linda Michelle Gonzalez, alleging that the defendants inappropriately dismissed without proper investigation a tax fraud case that amounted to more than 115,200,000 Guatemalan Quetzals (US$15,163,924.67) over eight years.

"After years of impunity, excuses, and outright violations of judicial procedure, I'm pleased to see this case take one small step towards justice," said UASP Secretary General Nery Barrios. "The greatest tragedies in Guatemala, from the unpunished murders of women to the spread of gang violence and corruption, can be traced back to the miserable performance of the Attorney General's office. It's time that Guatemalans demand accountability from their public officials."

Given that the Attorney General has immunity from the courts, the case will be assigned to a special congressional committee that will decide whether or not to strip the immunity and pass the case to the floor for a general vote. If the Attorney General loses the vote in Congress, the President will have no choice but to dismiss him from his post and have him stand trial for the charges.

The charges come just days after Mr. Florido celebrated an inauguration ceremony for his second term in office. On May 2, President Oscar Berger appointed Mr. Florido to continue in his role as Attorney General, provoking outrage and vocal opposition among several judicial and human rights NGOs. In 2005, Mr. Florido's office was only able to bring 224 cases to court out of 23,615 complaints, according to reports in Prensa Libre.

Source: prnewswire

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