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NICARAGUA COULD LOSE ITS PRESIDENT, AND A WHOLE LOT MORE.

Article Excerpt
The Contralaria General de la Republica (CGR) of Nicaragua has recommended that President Enrique Bolanos be impeached. Bolanos, said the CG, refused to provide information on the origin of money contributed to his electoral campaign in 2001 and, for that refusal, the legislature should initiate proceedings seeking his removal from office.

In a unanimous decision in early October, the Tribunal de Cuentas found that Bolanos bore administrative responsibility for failing to respond to a request for information regarding the provenance of campaign funds, and it fined him two-months' salary. In a document sent to the Asamblea Nacional (AN), the Contralaria contended that legal merit existed to require that Bolanos step down.

CGR director Juan Gutierrez explained the president did not supply the required data in a special audit to "verify the movements of income from restricted accounts and [to determine] electoral crimes."

At issue were checks amounting to US$326,000 drawn on an account from a Grand Cayman bank. Francisco Ramirez, one of five CGR comptrollers, said they had not been able to determine the amount of income to the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC), the official party, nor trace funds used in the campaign because "we didn't have the necessary...

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