FORMER MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR TO STAND TRIAL

Guatemala, February 15, 2012. Judge Wálter Villatoro of the Tenth Couth of the First Criminal Instance ruled to send former Minister of the Interior Raúl Antonio Velásquez Ramos to trial for abuse of authority and noncompliance of duties. The charges are being tried in the case addressing the unsatisfactory renovation work at the Fraijanes II prison, where GTQ 17.4 million were invested in 2009.

Judge Villatoro also ruled to send four accused auditors to trial for noncompliance of duties in the same case. The accused parties are: Francisco Javier Alvarado Cuadra, Luis Antonio Álvarez Pereira, Francisco Javier Villatoro Villanueva and Carlos Enrique López Gutiérrez.

At the behest of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) and the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), Judge Villatoro ordered that the fraud charge against Velásquez Ramos be provisionally shelved. In this regard, the judge granted a three-month period within which to conduct investigations and indict Velásquez Ramos for fraud.

The judge, once more at the behest of the MP and CICIG, dismissed proceedings against the auditors Claudia Azurdia Aguilera and Hugo Waldermar Ascencio Vargas on the ground that the audits had been conducted prior to the case in question.