Former Guatemalan dictator’s son arrested for embezzlement

September 8th, 2009 Guatemala food-starved due to weather, economyGUATEMALA CITY — Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom declared "a state of public calamity" late Tuesday to help mobilize funds and resources to confront a food shortage that will affect thousands of families. "This will help us access resources from the international community that are generously offered for this type of situations and to mobilize national resources more rapidly," Colom said in a statement.

September 7th, 2009 Gunmen kill 4 prison officials in GuatemalaGUATEMALA CITY — Guatemalan police say four prison officials have been shot to death in three separate attacks that authorities believe are retaliation for a jail crackdown. Ministry of Interior spokesman Nery Morales says a warden, a deputy warden, a prison guard and a driver were killed Monday after officials seized cell phones and moved inmates to different prisons over the weekend to break up an extortion ring.

July 10th, 2009 Guatemalan court rules in favor of tweet authorGUATEMALA CITY — An appeals court found insufficient evidence to warrant the trial of a Guatemalan whose Twitter message led to his arrest on charges of inciting financial panic. Jean Anleu was arrested and charged in May after sending a 96-character tweet that urged depositors to withdraw funds from a bank involved in a political-murder scandal.

June 5th, 2009 Mexico drug cartel's grenades from Guatemalan armyGUATEMALA CITY — Thousands of bullets and grenades that were part of a Mexican drug cartel's weapons cache belong to the Guatemalan army, Guatemala's anti-drug prosecutor said Thursday. Prosecutor Leonel Ruiz said investigators have determined that more than 3,800 bullets and 563 grenades seized outside Guatemala's capital in April following a shootout that left five anti-drug agents dead came from military bases in the Central American nation, which has become a major transshipment point for Colombian cocaine.

March 24th, 2009 GUATEMALA CITY - Several children listed as missing during Guatemala's 1960-1996 civil war were sold in illegal adoptions, the country's social welfare agency records revealed. The director of the government's Peace Archive, Marco Tulio Alvarez, told a press conference here Monday that during the analysis the archive, officials found a series of irregularities that prove the disappearance of children between 1986 and 1987.

March 23rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari Monday said 'for a long time and at intervals the rule of law and constitutionalism has been trampled by dictators', adding 'this cycle must come to an end'. The Pakistani government last Monday announced the restoration of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf in 2007 emergency rule, following protests from lawyers and activists.

March 15th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Disgraced police officer Saji Mohan, who was arrested in Mumbai with 12 kg of heroin in January, was Saturday remanded to seven-day police custody by a court here in an embezzlement case. Mohan was brought to Chandigargh from Mumbai in connection with the alleged misappropriation of Rs.1.4 million when he was zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

March 14th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - An Indian Police Service officer, held in Mumbai with 12 kg of heroin in January, will be produced in a court here in a case of embezzlement, police said here Friday. The police is bringing Saji Mohan from Mumbai to interrogate him in a case of embezzlement of nearly Rs.1.4 million during his tenure as zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau here.

March 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The police Tuesday said they have arrested an employee of a money exchange firm who embezzled over Rs.10 million from his company. Amit Kumar worked at a money changer firm at the World Trade Centre in Connaught Place and had a large amount of money at his disposal for long periods of time, the police said.

February 17th, 2009 HAVANA - Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom has publicly apologized for his country's role in allowing its territory to be used to train the exiles and mercenaries who participated in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, EFE reported. 'Today, I want to apologize to Cuba for our country having offered its territory to prepare the invasion of Cuba,' Colom said during a speech at the University of Havana.

February 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has arrested 12 officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on charges of corruption and forgery, an official said Sunday. 'We have arrested 12 officials in the last four days in different cases,' said Additional Commissioner of Police Dilip Kumar.

February 14th, 2009 GUATEMALA CITY - Nearly half of Guatemala's children suffer from chronic malnutrition and their physical growth falls below the average established by the World Health Organisation (WHO), according to a study. The study carried out by the education and health ministries found that 45.6 percent of Guatemalan children suffer from chronic malnutrition, EFE reported Sunday.

February 9th, 2009 TAIPEI - Taiwan's former first lady Wu Shu-chen pleaded guilty Tuesday to money laundering and forgery charges in a widely watched pre-trial hearing at the Taipei district court. But she denied more serious embezzlement and bribery charges, saying that to her knowledge, the millions of dollars in funds she had received were merely political contributions for her husband, Chen Shui-bian, when he was still president.

January 29th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - A case of misappropriation of public money was registered here Friday against tainted police officer Saji Mohan, former zonal director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the police said. The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Chandigarh Police is investigating this case of embezzlement against the officer, who was arrested in Mumbai Jan 25 with 12 kilograms of heroin.

January 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested a clerk, posted at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), for allegedly siphoning off funds, police Sunday said. Vikas Rana reportedly used to prepare salary bills in the name of four senior officials, who were posted at the PMO three years ago but had since returned to their parent cadre.