GUATEMALA CITY: Guatemalan prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday to strip President Bernardo Arevalo of the criminal immunity he enjoys so he can be charged with alleged abuse of power, the latest twist in an ongoing confrontation between the two sides.

This is the third such request against Arevalo in the year since he was elected to office on the back of an anti-corruption campaign. All of the requests came from the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI), which first sought to prevent Arevalo from taking office and then to force him to resign.

The prosecutor leading the prosecution against him, Rafael Curruchiche, is on the US State Department’s Engel List of corrupt and undemocratic actors and has been sanctioned in more than 40 countries.

Curruchiche said on Wednesday that Arevalo must respond to allegations that he gave illegal instructions to his former communications minister, Jazmin de la Vega, regarding payments to construction companies hired by the previous government.

The prosecution presented a leaked recording of the alleged conversation.

Among the companies is a firm with ties to Guatemala’s ambassador to the Organization of American States that has a contract worth $8.5 million, Curruchiche said.

Arevalo denied the allegations in a statement through his social communications office, saying: “Mr. Curruchiche’s nonsense does not provide any basis for a criminal complaint.” REUTERS