Former Guatemalan president and vice president found guilty of corruption 

A Guatemalan court convicted former president Otto Pérez Molina and his former vice-president for illicit association and fraud.

The decision was announced by Judge Irma Jeanette Valdes and other judges of the Guatemalan Court of High-Risk Cases group B. The two were sentenced to 16 years in prison for the crimes of illicit association and a special case of customs fraud. 

The two were also accused of a third crime, illicit enrichment. However, they were acquitted. 

Pérez Molina served as president of the Central American country between 2012 and 2015. He resigned from office and was imprisoned in September 2015 following massive demonstrations by citizens who were unhappy with his presidency. 

Vice President Roxana Baldetti was also forced to resign from her post at the time. 

The case concerning the former president and vice president has become one of the most emblematic in the country. Known as "La Línea," the case consists of a joint investigation by the then Special Prosecutor's Office Against Corruption (FECI) and the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).

According to the investigations, the president was part of a network that defrauded the State through three customs offices and gave "discounts" to importers so that they would pay fewer taxes in exchange for bribes.

Along with Perez Molina, 30 other individuals are being accused of participating in the corruption scheme. 

"The investigation has certain flaws and errors that will lead to acquittals of some of those involved," warned Judge Valdez.

"The ‘La Línea’ case is one of the most paradigmatic and is a watershed in Guatemalan history and it is important so that in some way the people and the people of Guatemala have justice and that the case does not go unpunished," Edie Cux, director of Acción Ciudadana, the local chapter of Transparency International, told AFP news agency.

Throughout the trial, the former president claimed he was “innocent.” However, the prosecutor's office presented documentary evidence of the fraud he was accused of. 

Pérez Molina is also being accused of corruption in two other cases that have not yet gone to trial. One of the trials charged him for receiving bribes for awarding more than 70 contracts to several state institutions. 

Baldetti was convicted in 2018 for other corruption cases and the United States has requested her extradition to stand trial for alleged drug trafficking.