GUATEMALA CITY, (Reuters) – Guatemalan President  Alvaro Colom denied involvement in the murder of a prominent  lawyer yesterday after a video surfaced blaming the president  for the crime and accusing him of money laundering.

Rodrigo Rosenberg, the legal representative of a well-known  businessman who was killed in April, was gunned down in an  upscale Guatemala City suburb on Sunday.

The day after his murder, a written statement and a video  was delivered to the Guatemalan media, with Rosenberg warning  he might be killed and accusing Colom of ordering the hit.

“If you are watching this message it is because I have been  murdered by Alvaro Colom,” Rosenberg said in a 20-minute  speech. He also said Colom, his wife and his personal secretary  were covering up a money laundering scheme.

Colom called a news conference Monday night and again yesterday to deny involvement and blame opponents who want to  destabilize his government.

“The video is totally false, my conscience is clear. This  government is not guilty of thuggery or assassination,” he  said.

Several hundred people protested in the capital yesterday  demanding the resignation of the president.

Since his inauguration in January 2008, Colom has struggled  to contain violence from street gangs and powerful Mexican drug  cartels operating in the country.

Rosenberg said his murdered client, Khalil Musa, was about  to blow the whistle on schemes to divert government funds and  finance drug businesses at Banrural bank.