Guatemalan court approves temporary detention of former President Perez

FormerGuatemalan President Otto Perez. (Source: Reuters)

On September 3, former Guatemalan President Otto Perez was temporarily detained to serve the investigation after the country's Supreme Court approved the Prosecutor's request to arrest him.

The 64-year-old former soldier had resigned less than a day earlier amid rising social discontent and was stripped of his immunity from prosecution by the Guatemalan Congress due to his alleged involvement in, and even command of, a criminal network known as “The Line,” which specializes in corruption, embezzlement, influence peddling, etc.

Otto Perez will now face charges of organizing illegal activities, bribery and customs fraud, in a trial that begins on September 3, with the Prosecutor's Office presenting its evidence.
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The Guatemalan Prosecutor's Office said that to crack the "Line" case, investigators conducted 89,000 phone wiretaps, reviewed thousands of emails and collected documents from 17 different establishments.

The case began to be exposed last April and a few weeks before his resignation, Mr. Otto Perez was said to have been "completely isolated" politically when most of his cabinet had resigned or been arrested.

On September 6, Guatemala will hold a general election as scheduled and the winner will be inaugurated as president in January 2017./.

According to VN+