Former president of Guatemala admits guilt to corruption

A court in Guatemala has decided that the former president, Otto Pérez Molina, must go to jail for eight years.

Pérez Molina, who was made to leave his position in 2015 due to protests against corruption, admitted to breaking the law by moving illegal money, committing fraud, and being involved in corrupt activities.

Prosecutors say he received a lot of money as bribes for giving out more than 70 contracts to different companies.

The 72-year-old person has been in prison since the day after he left his job.

Last year, he and his vice-president, Roxana Baldetti, were found guilty of carrying out a bribery scheme at the Guatemalan customs authorities.

The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which was formed by the United Nations and Guatemala to fight corruption in the country, played a key role in uncovering both corruption cases.

CICIG looked into claims of corruption by powerful people.

The United Nations-supported group was forced to leave Guatemala in 2019 by Jimmy Morales, the person who took over after Pérez Molina. This happened because the group began to look into Mr. Morales’ possible problem with how he received money for his campaign.

The removal of CICIG received strong criticism from groups in Guatemala and also from those in the United States and the European Union who are against corruption.

People are saying that President Alejandro Giammattei’s current government is stopping investigations into corruption.

The US state department claimed that Guatemala’s Attorney General Consuelo Porras blocked investigations in order to help her friends and gain unfair political support. This happened last year when she ordered the arrest of several anti-corruption prosecutors.

Many prosecutors and judges from Guatemala have left the country because they are scared of being arrested.

People from Guatemala said that they are very worried about corruption. This made them vote for a person who is not a part of the usual politics and promised to stop the corrupt practices.