Former Guatemalan President Formally Charged with Corruption

Otto Perez Molina and Roxana Baldetti—the former president and vice president of Guatemala, respectively—were formally charged with corruption and money laundering Thursday alongside dozens of others from the country's economic and political elite.

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The case is unrelated to the massive corruption scandal the led both Perez Molina and Baldetti to resign from office after massive protests called for the pair to step down. That case, know as La Linea (or "The Line"), alleges that the two headed up a corruption scheme that saw bribes paid to government officials in return for getting around import taxes.

Thursday's charges are being referred to as “State Cooptation,” with Perez Molina and Baldetti accused of using state institutions to launder money for personal enrichment.

Speaking to Perez Molina in court, Prosecutor Julio Barrios Prado said, “That money was used to purchase goods and services for you and Baldetti, including real estate and luxury vehicles, as well as US$4.3 million in gifts.”

According Barrios, the two were "engaged in committing several illegal activities including illicit financing, bribery and money laundering.”

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Prosecutors allege Perez Molina sought political office specifically to carry out graft that added up to millions of dollars.

A former general and chief of military intelligence during Guatemala’s bloody civil war, Perez Molina was elected president in 2012 alongside Baldetti, with whom he founded the neoliberal Patriotic Party a decade earlier.

Barrios alleged that the campaign was funded through illicitly gained money. The pair deny the accusations.

Beyond Perez Molina and Baldetti, prosecutors laid charges against 57 of the other 70 people accused of participating in the scheme, including a number of top bankers.