Court sends ex-Guatemalan Vice President to prison for fraud

Guatemalan former Vice President, Ricans Baldetti has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after she was found guilty of fraud

She was convicted on Tuesday for fraud in awarding a multi-million dollar government contract to decontaminate a lake near the capital.

Judge Pablo Xitumul, in his ruling, said Baldetti led a “criminal network” that sought to defraud the state, while finding her guilty of conspiracy, influence peddling and fraud at the end of a four month trial.

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Also convicted alongside Baldetti were nine others, including her brother Mario, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his involvement in steering the contract to a company owned by an Argentine-Israeli businessman, Hugo Roitman, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

The remaining were former government officials.

The project came to light in 2016 after environmentalists charged that the chemical formula sold was a mixture of salt and water.

Baldetti, who faces charges in three other corruption cases, resigned as vice president in May 2015 after being accused in a separate fraudulent scheme involving Guatemalan customs.

 

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