Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutor flees country after sacking | Corruption News

Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval fled the country early Saturday, just hours after his release, which sparked international outrage.

Sandoval, who headed the Guatemalan Special Prosecutor against Impunity (FECI) until Friday, fled to the Salvadoran border in the early hours of Saturday, said Jordan Rodas, Guatemalan human rights officer.

“The decision was made to protect his life,” Rodas told Reuters.

Sandoval arrived in La Chinamas, a border town in El Salvador about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Guatemala City. On his trip from Guatemala he was accompanied by human rights activists, the Swedish Ambassador Hans Magnusson and journalists from The Associated Press.

“Unfortunately, this has become a situation that many officials in Guatemala have had to go through just because we are not useful to the regime,” said Sandoval, as reported by the AP.

“Wherever I am, I will continue to work for the good of the people of Guatemala, but for my own safety I will not be used by people who have made government money exploitation a way of life,” he said.

Guatemalan supporters of Sandoval gather on the streets of Guatemala City on July 23 [Johan Ordonez/AFP]

Guatemala’s attorney general Maria Porras removed the internationally renowned corruption attorney from his office on Friday.

A government statement earlier in the day said Porras had removed Sandoval due to “constant abuses and frequent abuses of institutionality” from the ministry. “In view of the impending loss of trust in the relationship, his employment relationship will be terminated today,” said Porras.

Edgar Ortiz, director of legal research at the Liberty and Development Foundation, told Al Jazeera that the Guatemalans are deeply disappointed with the removal of Sandoval, whom Ortiz described as “the most visible face” in the fight against corruption.

The Sandoval-led unit was originally created to lead investigations by the United Nations-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which was removed from the country in 2019.

He is a well-respected anti-corruption attorney with a track record of prosecuting dozens of criminal networks. Together with the former UN anti-corruption mission, he helped bring down former President Otto Perez Molina and some members of his cabinet on corruption allegations.

“Prosecutor Sandoval was … the main contributor to this commission and the fight against corruption, so the general public is quite disappointed and angry with the government,” Ortiz told Guatemala City’s Al Jazeera on Saturday.

“There is a link between corruption, drug trafficking and organized crime,” he added, explaining that the corruption investigation conducted by Sandoval’s unit “has reached very powerful people and explains what is happening to Sandoval now.”

As I pointed out during my visit last month, #FECI’s independence is an essential test of Guatemala’s commitment to the rule of law. Prosecutor General Porras’ dismissal of anti-corruption champion Juan Francisco Sandoval is an outrageous move. The Guatemalan people deserve better. https://t.co/y3ssKrhoTs

– Samantha Power (@PowerUSAID) July 24, 2021

His removal on Friday sparked international criticism, including from the administration of US President Joe Biden, who urged the Guatemalan government and others in Central America to root out corruption.

“The dismissal of anti-corruption champion Juan Francisco Sandoval by Attorney General Porras is an outrageous step,” wrote Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), on Twitter on Saturday morning. “The Guatemalan people deserve better.”

Ivan Velasquez, the former head of the UN Anti-Corruption Commission expelled from Guatemala, described Sandoval’s removal as an “illegal, arbitrary and criminal act”.

“The international community should protect him immediately,” said Velasquez.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Guatemalans protested against Sandoval’s deposition outside the presidential palace on Saturday.