Guatemalan ex-president who took bribe released from U.S. prison
Guatemalan ex-president who took bribe released from U.S. prison
Source: Reuters - Wed, 25 Feb 2015 19:44 GMT
Feb 25 (Reuters) - Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo has been released from a U.S. prison after serving a nearly six-year sentence for taking $2.5 million in bribes from Taiwan and laundering funds through U.S. banks, a prison official confirmed Wednesday.
Portillo was sentenced to five years, 10 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson in New York last May. At the time, he had already served more than four years in jail since his arrest in 2010. He is expected to arrive in Guatemala later on Wednesday.
The 63-year-old, who served as president of Guatemala from 2000 to 2004, was extradited to the United States in May 2013 after a years-long fight in Guatemala's courts, which had cleared the former president on embezzlement charges.
U.S. authorities initially accused Portillo of laundering tens of millions of dollars embezzled from the Guatemalan government, including $2.5 million provided by Taiwan's embassy in the Central American nation for books for school libraries.
More:
http://www.trust.org/item/20150225194445-b6jvs/
