GUATEMALA. Wed. Mar. 10. 2021– María Marta Castañeda, niece of the former presidential candidate Sandra Torres, accepted guilt and was sentenced to four years in prison, commutable, and fined Q10 thousand for having defrauded the municipality of San Andrés Sajcabajá, Quiché.
The Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption managed to prove that Castañeda charged the commune Q1.5 million for an advice that she did not provide.
Castañeda should have advised the aforementioned municipality for the acquisition of a loan of Q10 million, but there was no advice for the credit.
The loan money would be to build a market in San Andrés Sajcabajá and the construction work never started. However, the Higher Risk Court A sent Francisco Gabriel Urriola Noriega to trial for money laundering, he is the ex-husband of María Marta Castañeda.
According to the investigation, Urriola Noriega received Q301 thousand from a transaction made by María Marta Castañeda and it is suspected that this money came from a scam against the mayor of San Andrés Sajcabajá.
This article was first publish in Prensa Libre.
(Amandala Ed. Note: Nardia Garcia- CEO in the Ministry of Finance is the sister of former Guatemalan presidential candidate Sandra Torres, who is the aunt of the convicted María Marta Castañeda.)