Prensa Libre in Guatemala is looking into how the relations between Vivian Soraya Urízar Estrada, Juan Carlos Monzón, former Guatemala Vice President Roxana Baldetti and Dominican Senator Félix Bautista may be linked to the Odebrecht bribery scandal in this Central American country.
In the Dominican Republic, Bautista has managed to secure six judicial rulings that have prevented the local opening of a corruption case against him. But now he and his companies in Guatemala are the focus of that country’s Attorney General as investigators try discover ties between the ruling Partido Patriota (PP) and the Brazilian firm Odebrecht. The companies competed for public works at the Ministry of Public Works during the government of the PP. The anti-corruption entity in Guatemala (Feci) has been accumulating evidence of the relationships involving government officials, Bautista and Odebrecht since September 2015, as reported in Prensa Libre.
Urizar Estrada said that he and Baldetti visited the Dominican Republic shortly before Baldetti took office as vice president. He said they were hosted at the home of a Senator.
Lawyer Karen Fabiola Umaña in notes on the case reportedly stated that Felix Bautista was interested in opening a construction firm in Guatemala to build highways. She said persons of influence in the government renegotiated the contract with Odebrecht to increase the costs.
But locally, Senator Felix Bautista said that the plan to operate in Guatemala were not fruitful. He said his companies never established contractual relations with Odebrecht in Guatemala.
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Prensa Libre
Acento
Diario Libre
25 January 2017
