GUATEMALA CITY, (Reuters) – Guatemalan President Otto Perez dismissed corruption allegations levelled against him by prosecutors and said yesterday he would not stand down, despite mounting pressure on the government and calls for his impeachment as a presidential election looms.
In a combative, pre-recorded address that was televised to the nation, an animated Perez said he had received no money from the customs racket to which investigators have linked him, and stressed that his conscience “was clear”.
Guatemala’s attorney general and a U.N.-backed anti-corruption body known as the CICIG sought to impeach Perez on Friday after months of investigation into the racket known as La Linea, or ‘the line’, after a phone hotline used in the scandal.
“I will not resign and will fully submit myself to the legal process,” said Perez, a 64-year-old retired general.
“I categorically reject any link (to the scandal),” he said, apologizing for the scandals afflicting his government.
Perez also took a swipe at sectors of the international community he said were “seeking to intervene” in Guatemalan democracy. He did not specify to whom he was referring.
Investigations led by the CICIG have battered Guatemala’s political establishment and also engulfed the running mate of the favorite to succeed Perez, casting doubt on the outcome of the race.
On Friday, former Vice President Roxana Baldetti was arrested over the La Linea scandal. Attorney General Thelma Aldana submitted a bid to impeach Perez later that day.
Perez’s agriculture and health ministers both quit his cabinet on Sunday, following in the footsteps of two others on Saturday who said they could no longer serve in his government.
Baldetti, who stood down in May and was arrested on Friday while receiving treatment at a hospital, is suspected of illicit association, bribery and fraud linked to the customs racket. Prosecutors say Perez was at the head of the scam.
It is unclear how much money was involved in the fraud, More than 20 people have been arrested over it so far.
The first round of the presidential vote is due on Sept. 6 although, with a 50 percent winning threshold in place, the elections are likely to go to a second round run-off on Oct. 25.
Perez cannot run for re-election under Guatemalan law.
U.N.-backed
commission leading Guatemala graft purge
Following are details about the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which was formed in late 2006 to help the Guatemalan state investigate crimes by illegal armed groups in the violent Central American country:
* The CICIG is currently led by former Colom-bian state prosecutor Ivan Velasquez, 60, who won renown for investigating links between politicians and paramilitaries in his homeland and took the helm of the body in Guatemala in late 2013.
* The body spearheaded a probe into a fraud at Guatemala’s customs office known as la Linea, after a telephone hotline used in the scandal. The investigation and those that followed it sent shockwaves through Guatemalan politics, and helped fuel massive demonstrations against Perez’s government.
* Several ministers were sacked or resigned over La Linea, and Velasquez has said it is clear Perez was involved.
* The CICIG moved against Perez following months of investigations that centered on his former Vice President Roxana Baldetti and one of her top aides, who is now fugitive.
* Working with the CICIG, Guatemala’s Attor-ney General Thelma Aldana had Baldetti arrested on Aug. 21 and promptly sought the impeachment of Perez, a retired general who served in Guatemala’s bloody 1960-1996 Civil War.
* Findings against Baldetti and Perez were taken from some 89,000 telephone taps, almost 6,000 emails and 17 raids.
* The mandate of the CICIG was set to expire in September, but was extended by the Guatema-lan government in April for two years amid political, popular and international pressure, notably from the United States.
* In a separate probe, the CICIG accused the running mate of the favorite to win September’s presidential election of graft, eroding the front-runner’s lead and casting doubt on the result.
* Another CICIG investigation into corruption at Guatemala’s social security institute sparked the arrest of more than a dozen officials including the central bank governor.
* The CICIG’s success has prompted calls for the creation of similar bodies in neighboring countries grap