Former President Pérez Molina Leaves Prison After Being Found Guilty and Sentenced to 8 Years in December 2022

Pérez Molina was found guilty and sentenced to 8 years in December 2022. Photo: Alejandro Ramírez / La Hora.

Former President Otto Pérez Molina left the prison located in the Mariscal Zavala Military Brigade during the night of last Wednesday, January 3, after the Judicial Branch (OJ) accepted the real estate mortgage that he offered to reach the amount of Q10.3 million which added up to the two financial bonds that were imposed on him in the two processes for which he was prosecuted.

In December 2022, Pérez Molina was found guilty and sentenced to 8 years in prison for enriching himself during his mandate, through a network dedicated to collecting illegal commissions, in exchange for reducing the payment of tariffs for the importation of products.

Several years later he pleaded guilty to the charges that were brought against him in the second file, called State Cooptation.

The former president remained deprived of liberty since September 2015. After several months of citizen protests demanding his resignation, Pérez Molina left his position in the presidential chair and surrendered to justice for the “La Línea” case, for which former Vice President Roxana Baldetti and government officials from the defunct Patriotic Party (PP) were also convicted.

ECONOMIC SAFEGUARDS

In August 2023, the judge of Major Risk B, Eva Recinos, approved the modification of the coercive measure of the former president within the case of alleged corruption in the granting of a land concession from the Quetzal Port Company (EPQ) to the Quetzal Container Terminal (TCQ) company.

From this account, the judge considered giving the benefit to the former president, who before leaving prison had to pay Q300 thousand, in addition to complying with other conditions.

In addition, the former president was sentenced in December 2022 by the High Risk Court B to serve a sentence of 16 years in prison for the La Línea case. However, the ruling is not final, which is why his defense promoted compliance with a substitute measure that had previously been set for him, to wait for confirmation of the sentence outside of prison.

Before the verdict was handed down, the former ruler was granted financial bail of Q10 million as part of several alternative measures within the aforementioned process.

However, his defense stated that Pérez Molina did not have that amount of money, because his bank accounts remain seized. For this reason, two real estate properties were made available with which the amount was justified.

CASES

Pérez Molina and Baldetti were sentenced to 16 years of incommutable prison each for money laundering and complicity to commit passive bribery. In addition, they were ordered to pay a fine of Q8 million and compensation to the State.

The existence of a customs fraud structure was established that made contact with importers, to whom it offered a reduction in the payment of tariffs. This benefit was granted after the delivery of a bribe or illegal commissions.

Meanwhile, due to the investigation of the TCQ case, which was revealed in 2016, it was established that between January 2012 and April 2015, a criminal group had been formed, with defined roles, to obtain economic benefits generated by the celebration and execution of the contract. irregular in favor of the entity TCQ SA

According to the investigation, it would have been negotiated to transfer to that entity part of the EPQ land, on which the aforementioned private container terminal would be built, developed and operated.

2024-01-04 21:07:07
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