Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said on Wednesday he would extradite former president Alfonso Portillo to the US if a court orders him to be sent for trial on charges of laundering US$1.5 million intended to buy school library books.
Colom said the US asked for 40 days to document the case of money laundering and the government is “going to respect the request.”
Authorities said Portillo, who led the country from 2000 to 2004, was arrested at a beach on Jan. 26 as he prepared to flee Guatemala by boat.
The previous day, a US indictment was unsealed in federal court in New York charging him with embezzling US$1.5 million donated by Taiwan, depositing the money in Miami and then allegedly transferring it to a Paris account in the name of his ex-wife and daughter. It also alleges he conspired with two members of the Guatemalan military in 2001 to embezzle millions from the government and used some of the money to buy expensive cars and watches.
Portillo has denied the allegations and his lawyer, Telesforo Guerra, said he will fight to enforce a 2008 law that requires suspects be tried for charges they face in Guatemala before being extradited. Portillo is on trial in Guatemala on different embezzlement charges.
Colom was asked at a news conference after meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about cooperation with the US and the indictment of Portillo.
The president noted that Guatemala’s extradition agreement with the US dates back to 1903 and was revised in 1994.
“Our government is ready to support what needs to be done to fight impunity, to fight money laundering, to fight drug trafficking,” he said.
Would he sign an order extraditing Portillo?
“This is no problem,” Colom replied. “If the judges order that, I will comply with that.”
The president, who was heading to Washington and was scheduled to talk with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday, said his government has increased “the levels of support and coordination” with the US in many areas including fighting against organized crime and drug trafficking.
In his meeting with Ban, Colom said he discussed the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, a UN agency created to battle corruption and crime in the Central American nation.
“I feel honored to have that [commission] to bring an end to impunity and to improve our justice system in order to regain the trust of the people,” he said.
Colom said the government, with the help of the commission, is “overthrowing old taboos.”
It is tackling tax reform, promoting rural development and fighting against tax evasion, he said, and it has arrested and imprisoned former officials and drug dealers and solved crimes like the killing of 14 Nicaraguans on a bus in November 2008.
“In the end, I think we are moving forward,” Colom said. “I wish it were faster, but I think it is moving forward.”
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