Spain arrests 5 in Guatemala corruption investigation
Published:Thursday | May 9, 2019 | 12:10 AM
MADRID (AP):
Spanish anti-corruption prosecutors have arrested five people who are suspected of being involved in payoffs by a Barcelona company to the former president and vice-president of Guatemala.
Prosecutors say Wednesday that the case concerns the alleged payment between 2012 and 2015 of $30 million (€27 million) in bribes by a Barcelona port operations company.
The money allegedly went to then President Otto Pérez Molina and his vice-president, Roxana Baldetti, for a contract to build and operate a container terminal in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala’s largest Pacific Ocean port.
The statement by prosecutors also says they are investigating the alleged payment in 2016 of €10 million ($11 million) to a then Spanish police commissioner to stop the extradition to Guatemala of the CEO of the firm named Grup Maritim Terminal de Contenedores de Barcelona.