The businessman William Anthony Schwank López, claimed by Guatemala and who testified as a witness in a relevant process for corruption in Spain, expressed this Monday his “terror” at reprisals if he is handed over to his country.
The Spanish National Court held a hearing on the extradition request to Guatemala for his alleged involvement in a bribery case for which the former president of this country Otto Pérez Molina (2012-2015) and former vice president Roxana Baldetti were prosecuted.
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After stating that he was not clear about the facts for which he is being claimed, Schwank López warned of a convulsive political situation in his country and that “Judge Gálvez” who investigated the case for which his surrender is requested has been on the run since last October .
The prosecutors, who were “in charge of the accusations”he continued, one is also in search and capture and the other detained.
“I am afraid of the politicized mechanism in Guatemala”, noted for his fear that “Another revenge may come” depending on the outcome of this year’s elections in his country, fearing for his life and because he will not have a fair trial.
He also recalled that he made himself available to the courts in Spain, with his “collaboration” with the prosecutors of the so-called Villarejo case and his statement before the judge as a witness, “because he was not going to have the opportunity to be heard in Guatemala.”
Schwank laments the situation of prisons in Guatemala
His lawyer criticized the “absence” definition of the facts for which he is claimed and denounced the “lamentable” prison situation in Guatemala, with “serious risk” for your security “after collaborating with Spanish authorities in a mirror procedure”something for which he assured that his client received threats.
The Prosecutor’s Office, on the other hand, understands that the requirements for surrender are met, since they do not see political motivation or consider the crimes prescribed, which in Spain would be analogous to belonging to a criminal organization, bribery and fraud.
They claim the businessman for having allegedly received bribes from the Spanish shipping company Ángel Pérez Maura, investigated in a case against José Villarejo, a former commissioner of the Spanish Police accused in several processes.
Pérez-Maura is credited with paying the ex-commissioner 10 million euros to avoid his extradition, which was finally rejected, after accusing him in Guatemala of bribing the Guatemalan government with 30 million dollars to favor his shipping company Grup Maritim TCB.
The commission was supposedly paid between 2012 and 2015 to the former president and the former vice president, among others, apparently so that the shipping company, through its subsidiary in Guatemala, Terminal de Contenedores Quetzal, illegally obtained the construction and operation of a private terminal for containers in Puerto Quetzal.
For these same facts, Guatemala requests the handover of Schwank López, arrested a year ago in Madrid, who is accused of having received $900,000. “for managing the procedures for the project concession to be illegally awarded”.
