Guatemalan court acquits former president Portillo of embezzling state money

A Guatemalan court has acquitted a former president, Alfonso Portillo, of charges that he embezzled state money. The decision appeared to be a setback to United Nations-sponsored efforts to reform Guatemala’s corruption-racked judicial system.

Prosecutors accused Portillo, along with his defense and finance ministers, of having illegally transferred $15 million to the Ministry of National Defense in 2001. The prosecutors contended that the money was then withdrawn as cash.

Original source: New York Times