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GUATEMALA: PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT & ASSOCIATES ACCUSED IN OFFSHORE BANKING SCANDAL.

Article Excerpt
President Alfonso Portillo, Vice President Francisco Reyes Lopez, and four associates have been making multimillion dollar deposits in offshore banks, according to a newspaper expose. Amid denials and foot-dragging by Portillo's governing Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG), opposition party leaders and civic organizations are demanding that Portillo and Reyes Lopez give up their immunity and face the charges in court. The daily Prensa Libre said the regime no longer has any credibility.

The offshore transactions, which the press is calling the Panama Connection, appear to violate the ethics law for public officials, which requires them to update their financial- disclosure records each year to include any new assets or debts of more than US$6,320. None of the people involved in the alleged transactions reported any assets acquired since February 2000.

Long before the current scandal erupted, Portillo was besieged by allegations of corruption in his administration, but to date only ex-interior minister Byron Barrientos has been charged with illicit acts while in office (see NotiCen, 2001-12-06).

In February, before the story broke, Portillo announced an anti-corruption plan (Programa Nacional contra la Corrupcion). "Corruption and impunity...are part of the perverse functioning of our political, economic, and social systems." he said. Among other things, the courts would be encouraged to make an example out of people involved in corruption, Portillo said.

The Foro Guatemala, which represents all sectors of society, was to discuss the plan in March, but instead began discussing the offshore accounts and calling for an investigation of the president and vice president.

Foro coordinator Efrain Medina said the group would now propose its own anti-corruption plan and present it to the international advisory group (Grupo de Dialogo) at the local offices of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Accused officials worked through shell companies

The daily newspapers Siglo Veintiuno of Guatemala and La Prensa in Panama reported March 5 on the results of their two-week joint investigation of the Panama Connection....

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