FORMER MINISTER OF INTERIOR SALVADOR GÁNDARA REMANDED IN CUSTODY

Guatemala, January 31, 2012. Today, at the hearing of the Tenth Court of the First Criminal Instance, Judge Walter Villatoro ordered that the former Minister of the Interior and former mayor of Villanueva, Salvador Gándara Gaitán, be prosecuted and remanded in custody on the charges filed by the MP and CICIG. The charges (fraud, extortion, conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion) concern his alleged involvement in different criminal acts related to illegal negotiations held with NGOs as part of the renovation work at the Fraijanes II prison.

The judge ordered that Gándara Gaitán be transferred to the prison at the Matamoros military base, located in Zone 1.

The Fraijanes II case concerns a contract entered between former minister Gándara and the ONG Fundtech—the latter also hired the company Serdiconstru to conduct the Fraijanes prison renovation project. The above-mentioned project involved overvalued work, which had previously been agreed upon so as to benefit the companies of the Lainfiesta group. In return, big commissions were paid out, defrauding the State of its funds.

The Office of the Comptroller General revealed that there had been irregularities in the hiring processes and in the execution of the project as well as in relation to the conduct of the NGO and then-officials (2009) of the Ministry of the Interior.

The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) acts as a complementary prosecutor in this criminal proceeding.

Last year, Oscar Mauricio Vásquez Ramírez—owner of Serdiconstru, which was awarded the renovation contract for the Fraijanes II prison in 2009—offered a statement as an effective cooperator to the proceedings. In the statement, Vásquez Ramírez declared that his company was used as a facade by Rodrigo Lainfiesta Rímola (released on bail) and his cousin, Juan Diego Lainfiesta Cajas (fugitive).

In this case, the former Minister of the Interior Raúl Velásquez (remanded in custody) is being charged with fraud, abuse of authority and noncompliance of duties.