GUATEMALA: A Guatemalan judge has ordered 50 businesspeople suspected in a wide-ranging customs corruption scheme not to leave the country while the investigation continues.
The scandal involves companies bribing government officials to avoid import duties and has already led to the resignation of President Otto Perez Molina and his Vice President Roxana Baldetti.
The attorney general said last week that at least 1,500 businesspeople had benefited from the customs fraud.
Also Wednesday, officials in neighboring El Salvador announced they have opened an investigation into whether any of its citizens participated in the Guatemala scheme.
The scandal initially centered on Baldetti’s personal secretary and has roiled Guatemalan politics. Prosecutors have worked to unwind it in conjunction with a U.N. commission set up to tackle criminal networks and impunity in Guatemala.
