|
Solway Investment Group Bribes to Former Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei are Confirmed by U.S. Government
By Nelton Rivera, Prensa Comunitaria, January 17 2024
https://prensacomunitaria.org/2024/01/confirman-sobornos-de-solway-al-gobierno-del-expresidente-giammattei/
Former Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and former Minister of Energy and Mines Alberto Pimentel Mata have been sanctioned for receiving bribes from [Swiss companies Solway Investment Group and Telf Ag, both with Russian investors] and benefiting from state corruption. At the same time, the U.S. Treasury Department lifted sanctions on the subsidiary companies of Solway [and Telf Ag] in Guatemala implicated in those bribes.
On January 17, the U.S. State Department issued new sanctions, through the Global Magnitsky Act, against one of the ministers of the government of former President Alejandro Giammattei - Alberto Pimentel Mata who was in charge of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) during the period 2020-2024. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) froze all of Pimentel's assets in the United States and his visa was withdrawn and he is prohibited from entering the country.
The U.S. government confirms that Swiss company Solway Investment Group, owner of Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel (CGN), Compañía Procesadora de Níquel (Pronico), and Swiss company Telf Ag, owner of MayaNíquel, made bribes directly to former Minister Pimentel and to former President Giammattei. [Russian investors have apparently controlling interests in both companies.]
On the same day, the U.S. announced sanctions against former President Alejandro Giammattei Falla for his involvement in State corruption and for receiving bribes from [Solway/Telf Ag]. His visa and his family members, including his three children: Ana Marcela Dinorah Giammattei Cáceres, Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Cáceres, and Stefano Giammattei Cáceres, have had their visas revoked.
"The Department of State has credible information indicating that Giammattei accepted bribes in exchange for the performance of his public duties during his tenure as President of Guatemala, actions that undermined the rule of law and government transparency," the State Department statement said.
"Pimentel used his official position to exploit the Guatemalan mining sector through bribery schemes, including schemes related to government contracts and mining licenses," cites another State Department statement.
On October 31, 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had named Pimentel Mata and his family members, as well as Vice Minister Oscar Rafael Pérez Ramírez, to the Engel List for their involvement in acts of corruption in the State of Guatemala.
Illegal, imposed "good faith consultation"
Solway, which operates several mining projects in Alta Verapaz and Izabal, gave bribes to Pimentel to control, direct and obtain a favorable result in the “good faith community consultation” that the Constitutional Court (CC) had ordered the MEM to carry out.
Two years later, Pimentel Mata and Pérez Ramírez carried out the consultation in December 2021, during a military State of Siege and repression against the Q'eqchi people. The consultation was carried out with the participation of the mining company in El Estor.
This imposed consultation was annulled by the CC in April 2022 (The community consultation carried out in El Estor should be reversed because the CC declared it illegal). The resolution issued by the CC re-ordered the suspension of operations of the Fénix mining project until a community consultation was properly carried out with all the communities affected by the mine in El Estor in Izabal, and Panzós, Cahabón and Senahú in Alta Verapaz.
In addition to this CC resolution, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights recently ruled against the State of Guatemala for the case of the community of Lote 9 Agua Caliente and ordered it to repeat the community consultation along the same lines as the CC's decision (State of Guatemala and the Solway company receive a setback with the Court's decision).
U.S. sanctions lifted for mining companies
The same day that the United States informed about the new sanctions against the ex-president and ex-minister of mines and energy, the three subsidiaries in Guatemala of Solway Investment Group and Telf Ag (MayaNíquel, CGN and Pronico) were removed from OFCA's database of sanctioned companies and individuals.
Alejandro Giammattei is accused of having been bribed by Russian businessmen linked to the Mayaníquel subsidiary, who intended to take over the concession of the Santo Tomas de Castilla Port, through a concession to the company Atlantic Bulk Cargo, S.A. (ABC).
The Guatemalan Special Prosecutor's Office Against Corruption FECI had initiated a criminal investigation against Giammattei, known as the "Magic Carpet" case [alleging that former president Giammattei received a “gift” of a rug from the mining investors, and rolled up inside was the money], but the case did not move forward since the former president was protected by Attorney General Consuelo Porras.
This “Magic Carpet” criminal investigation led to the forced exile of former FECI chief prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval in July 2021. It also resulted in the political imprisonment of journalist Jose Ruben Zamora, director of elPeriodico from July 29, 2022 until today.
[…]
|
