US court sentences former president of Guatemala to prison for taking bribes

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

US court sentences former president of Guatemala to prison for taking bribes

• Alfonso Portillo took $2.5m from Taiwan to recognise nation
• American judge sentences extradited Portillo to six years

Associated Press in New York
theguardian.com, Thursday 22 May 2014 17.09 EDT

Guatemala's ex-president was sentenced Thursday to nearly six years in prison for accepting bribes, as a US judge rejected leniency and said government corruption must be stamped out worldwide.

The $2.5m in bribes Alfonso Portillo admitted accepting from the government of Taiwan to continue to recognize the Asian nation diplomatically should be "bothersome to the government of Guatemala and all the other countries in the United Nations convention against corruption," US district judge Robert P Patterson said.

Patterson sentenced Portillo, 62, to a term of five years, 10 months – a month short of the top of federal sentencing guidelines. Rampant political corruption in some countries must be diminished "because it corrupts the political system of each of these countries", Patterson said.

"There's too much corruption," Patterson said.

Portillo was Guatemala's president from 2000 to 2004. He was extradited to the United States a year ago and remains in custody after pleading guilty to money laundering conspiracy in March.

~snip~
The prosecutor said the bribes also threatened the integrity of US banks because Portillo laundered the money through US financial institutions, making them "a vehicle for moving bad money".

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/guatemala-president-portillo-us-court-bribes-prison

[FiveGoodMen]

1. I guess we think ALL the bribe money should come to the US?

[warrant46]

2. The World's Policeman begins to flex its muscles

Hmmmm

Guatemala's president Alfonso Portillo took $2.5m from Taiwan to recognise nation .

Meanwhile US Banksters who ruined millions of pensions walk free ??

[Judi Lynn]

5. How dare Portillo try to impugn the integrity of US banksters! Shame on that man.

US banksters are know throughout the galaxy for their absolute slickness. That takes years to master, as it doesn't come naturally to human beings.

[gerogie2]

3. American Presidents get their bribes after leaving office

They are called speaking fees. It started with Reagan receiving millions of dollars in fees from Japan after leaving office after he helped their businesses get established in the US.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

4. The snip has it

The prosecutor said the bribes also threatened the integrity of US banks because Portillo laundered the money through US financial institutions, making them "a vehicle for moving bad money".

a vehicle for moving bad money = accomplice who got caught.

[Judi Lynn]

6. The fact he admitted he killed two of his students didn't bother anyone enough!

From an article published last year:

In the U.S. case, Portillo allegedly deposited the money in Miami and transferred it to a Paris account in the name of his ex-wife and daughter.

Guatemala's highest court upheld the extradition last August after it was granted by former President Alvaro Colom as he left office in 2011.
Portillo has called the proceedings a political reprisal by powerful Guatemalan businessmen and the U.S. government for not bending to their interests. He has also said the court agreeing to his extradition constitutes a violation of his human rights.

Upon leaving office in 2004, Portillo fled to Mexico, where he began working as a financial adviser for a construction materials company.

He was extradited from Mexico to Guatemala in 2008 to face embezzlement charges at home.
Portillo was found not guilty in 2011 in Guatemala of charges that he stole $15 million from the country's Defense Department during his presidency.

In 2010, police captured Portillo at a beach preparing to flee Guatemala by boat, a day after U.S. authorities charged him with laundering money.

While running for president in Guatemala in 1999, Portillo acknowledged he had killed two of his former students while a professor in the Mexican state of Guerrero in 1982.
He said the killings were in self-defense and he fled the state because he could not get a fair trial. The case has since been closed, and he can no longer be charged in those killings.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/24/alfonso-portillo-extradited-president-guatemala-us-money-laundering_n_3333344.html