[JURIST] A Guatemalan criminal court ruled Wednesday that former Guatemalan president Alfonso Portillo can be extradited to the US to face charges of money laundering. Portillo, who was president of Guatemala from 2000 to 2004, has been charged in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on information provided by former members of Portillo’s government. He is accused of taking $15.8 million from funds designated for the Guatemalan Ministry of Defense and siphoning it into bank accounts in Europe and Bermuda. The former president maintains he is not guilty of any of the charges. Portillo might face corruption charges in Guatemala before being extradited. Portillo’s lawyers plan to appeal the extradition order.
Portillo was arrested in January following an arrest warrant issued by Guatemala based on the US indictment. In 2008, Portillo was extradited back to Guatemala from Mexico, where he had fled after his immunity expired along with his term in office. The extradition order was first signed in 2006, but Portillo challenged it until the Mexican Supreme Court ruled against him in January 2008. Numerous members of Portillo’s cabinet were arrested and tried on fraud charges during his time in exile.