GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A lawyer representing former Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina and ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt has been arrested for…
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A lawyer representing former Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina and ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt has been arrested for alleged ties to money laundering, officials said Thursday.
National Civil Police spokesman Pablo Castillo said that Moises Galindo was put behind bars on a judge’s order.
Perez Molina resigned in 2015 and is in jail as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Rios Montt is awaiting trial on genocide charges for atrocities committed during his 1982-1983 presidency during the country’s civil war.
Chief prosecutor Thelma Aldana said in a news conference Thursday that Galindo’s arrest was related to another investigation involving the ex-army officer Byron Lima. Lima was serving a sentence for the 1998 murder of Guatemalan Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi before he was killed in a prison riot last year.
Lima was also allegedly getting rich and gaining influence over the prison system while behind bars. Aldana said Lima’s ex-wife Alejandra Reyes shared recordings with investigators that suggest properties owned by Lima were turned over to Galindo to be put in his name. The properties were allegedly a form of payment from inmates to Lima so that they would be transferred within the prison system.
Lima’s brother, Luis Lima, was also arrested, according to the U. N. anti-corruption commission working in Guatemala. Reyes is a protected witness and was moved out of Guatemala for her safety.
