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Article Excerpt
Guatemalan banker Francisco Alvarado MacDonald, who engaged in negligent lending practices as the principal shareholder of two Guatemalan banks, has evaded imprisonment by paying a fine of approximately US$5,300. Many suggest that government authorities have shielded the banker from justice. Alvarado MacDonald is a close associate of President Alfonso Portillo and helped finance his presidential campaign.
Some observers have suggested that the charges brought against Alvarado MacDonald were trivial and out of proportion to the seriousness of his fraudulent practices. After his banks went into financial crisis last year, the state compensated depositors at a cost of nearly US$150 million.
On March 1, 2001, the government's monetary board (junta monetaria) took over Alvarado MacDonald's two banks, Banco Promotor and Banco Metropolitano, often referred to as the "twins." The banks had run out of reserves and their checks began to bounce (see NotiCen, 2001-03-29).
The bank crisis led to the firing of Finance Minister Manuel Maza Castellanos, an ally of Alvarado MacDonald. The daily Siglo Veintiuno reported that Alvarado MacDonald had lobbied the Portillo administration to appoint Maza Castellanos as finance minister to protect his financial interests.
Banker loans money to himself
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