GUATEMALA CITY, (Reuters) – Guatemalan police arrested a former top prosecutor yesterday, accusing him of abusing his authority for investigating corruption allegations against an ex-president of the Central American country.
Stuardo Campo is the latest among a growing number of former prosecutors, judges and officials who have been jailed or forced into exile in recent years.
Campo said his arrest stemmed from accusations filed by the Anti-Terrorism Foundation, a far-right organization which has targeted politicians, activists and journalists over the past year.
“This is a spurious complaint,” Campo told reporters as police were taking him to appear in court. “It’s totally false.”
In 2021, Campo was removed as the country’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor and transferred to the anti-human smuggling department of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Campo had requested that former President Jimmy Morales be stripped of his legal immunity to enable a probe into his alleged ties to a $64 million fraud case.
During current President Alejandro Giammattei’s administration, more than two dozen prosecutors and judges have gone into exile after threats related to their work as part of a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission that is now defunct.