The trial for embezzlement of former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo, began Friday in the Guatemalan capital, a first in this Central American country where no head of state had hitherto been considered.
Mr Portillo, president from 2000 to 2004, is accused of embezzling $ 15 million (11 million) missing from the Department of Defense in 2001. He is also charged in the United States and France for embezzlement and money laundering. The former president, who claims to be Marxist but came to power under the color of the line, had fled to Mexico in 2005 after losing his parliamentary immunity, but was extradited to Guatemala in October 2008. First placed on bail, he was arrested in January 2010, when he tried to flee to neighboring Belize and has been incarcerated in a military base in Guatemala. The charismatic leader, nicknamed "ronco Pollo" (chicken hoarse ") because of his strange voice appearance with his former defense ministers and Finance, Eduardo Arevalo and Manuel Maza, who, like him, say they have committed no crime. They face three to ten years in prison if found guilty.
In France, a Paris judge is also investigating since June 2009 other diversions of public funds allocated to the former president. Mr. Portillo, 59, was also indicted by a New York court of embezzlement and money laundering, the day before his arrest in Guatemala in January 2010. American justice accused of embezzling approximately $ 70 million of public funds, part of which would have passed on bank accounts U.S. and Europe. Washington requested his extradition, a process that has allowed the Guatemalan judicial system in principle but will only become effective once the process being completed in Guatemala.
In France, a Paris judge is also investigating since June 2009 other diversions of public funds allocated to the former president. Mr. Portillo, 59, was also indicted by a New York court of embezzlement and money laundering, the day before his arrest in Guatemala in January 2010. American justice accused of embezzling approximately $ 70 million of public funds, part of which would have passed on bank accounts U.S. and Europe. Washington requested his extradition, a process that has allowed the Guatemalan judicial system in principle but will only become effective once the process being completed in Guatemala.
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