A Guatemalan court on Wednesday sentenced both former President Otto Perez and his vice president, Roxana Baldetti, to 16 years in prison each in a graft case years after explosive corruption revelations forced the two out of office early and into prison.
Perez and Baldetti were accused of leading a customs fraud network that stole some $3.5 million in state funds during their administration, with both Perez and Baldetti accused by investigators of receiving hefty cuts.
Perez, who was president of Guatemala from 2012 to 2015, has spent the last seven years in prison awaiting a verdict in the case. Baldetti was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison in 2018 in a separate fraud case.
The case, known as "La Linea," was originally investigated under the now-defunct International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), backed by the United Nations.
Read more here.
