ARREST IN MASKANA CASE

Guatemala, May 13, 2011. Juan Carlos Maximiliano Leal Medina was arrested during the afternoon hours on May 12. Leal Medina acted as secretary of the Secretariat of Administrative and Security Affairs (SAAS) between 2004 and 2008. Leal Medina had been facing an arrest warrant since November 18, 2010 as he is charged with fraud and criminal association under the Maskana case.

The arrest took place on 10 Calle in Zone 14 of Guatemala City. Officers of the National Civil Police (PNC) were accompanied by CICIG police investigators during the operation.

Last week, in the same case, the Ninth Trial Court sentenced José Aníbal Hernández Nova, an advisor during the Raúl Velásquez administration, to 10 years in prison and ordered the payment of a GTQ 205,000 fine, after finding him guilty of extortion and laundering GTQ 39.4 million that had been allocated to purchasing fuel for the National Civil Police (PNC) in 2009. The Court also disqualified him from holding public office.

In the same case, the former PNC Director, Baltazar Gómez Barrios, and the former Deputy General of PNC Logistical Support, Héctor Israel Lapoyeu López, are both serving prison sentences. The pre-trial hearing to open oral arguments of the former Minister of the Interior, Raúl Velásquez, is scheduled for May 16. Velásquez is charged with money laundering, extortion and tax fraud.

The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) serves as a complementary prosecutor in the criminal proceedings.