Guatemalan judge orders trial for former president over corruption allegations
Xinhua, September 9, 2015 Adjust font size:
A Guatemalan judge on Tuesday ordered a trial to be opened into former president Otto Perez Molina, due to strong suspicions surrounding his participation in the "La Linea" customs fraud ring.
Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez said Perez Molina would face a trial, due to the weight of evidence presented by the country's attorney general and International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The two bodies will now have between three and six months to close the investigation into the former head of state, who stands charged with bribery, customs fraud and illicit association.
Perez Molina has been held in court custody at a minimum security military prison since Sept. 2, after surrendering to the tribunal shortly after an arrest warrant was issued against him.
His decision means that Gálvez sees the value in the telephone conversations recorded by the attorney and CICIG, as well as documents that allegedly lay out the La Linea customs fraud ring and inculpate Perez Molina and his former vice president, Roxana Baldetti.
Perez Molina stepped down as president on Sept. 2, after the country's congress stripped him of his immunity from prosecution. Baldetti was arrested back in May along with a number of other officials. Endit