Guatemala, May 4, 2011. The Attorney General of the Nation's Office (PGN) requested that former President Alfonso Portillo Cabrera and former ministers Manuel Hiram Maza Castellanos and Eduardo Arévalo Lacs be ordered to pay GTQ 120 million (between the three of them) in civil liabilities in relation to the material damage suffered by the Guatemalan State as a result of the misappropriation of the above amount at the Ministry of Defense in 2001.

Francis Gómez, a PGN lawyer, also requested that the three former public officials pay the interest that would have been accumulated on the GTQ 120 million between February 28, 2001 and the date the Court issues a judgement.

Lea De León, legal representative of the Corporación Financiera Americana, S.A. (Confía), acceded to the requests made last week by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) and the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). These two bodies requested the maximum sentence for embezzlement of 10 years in prison as well as the maximum fine of GTQ 25 million. In addition, they requested that the Court strip the accused of their political rights and the right to be elected and disqualify them from holding public office.

Confía also requested the payment of GTQ 50 million in civil liabilities and GTQ 17 million in interest. The two amounts to be paid would be split between the three accused if the Court were to grant the request.

The requests made by the two complementary prosecutors in the proceedings were presented before the Eleventh Trial Court on the fourth day of final arguments in the trial of the three former public officials.