[A-List] Nicaragua: financial shenanigans, political paralysis

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Anybody know more about this?


Ex-president could face trial in US

Rupert Widdicombe in Managua

The "Fatman" of Nicaraguan politics was sent a clear signal that his
days in power are numbered when the United States warned him that he
could be tried on money laundering charges in an American court.
Known as Gordoman (Fatman) as much for his political weight as for his
140kg, Arnoldo Aleman was president from 1997 until January this year
and is now leader of congress.
This month he was charged with stealing $100m from state funds during
his presidency - an amount equivalent to the annual health or education
budget in Latin America's poorest country after Haiti.
He cannot be arrested because, as a congressman, he is immune from
prosecution. Congress alone has the power to strip him of this
privilege, but it will not do so while he controls a narrow majority of
deputies.
The US ambassador, Oliver Garza, increased the pressure on him by
confirming that the US was investigating his international accounts and
money flows.
The new president, Enrique Bolanos, made apparently damning evidence of
his predecessor's activities public this month. At a public meeting
broadcast live, he and Francisco Fiallos, a state prosecutor, showed how
they believed millions of dollars were diverted from state institutions
and the treasury.
Mr Aleman, his sister, his brother and his daughter, three former
ministers, and seven others, were accused of money laundering, fraud and
misuse of state funds.
Mr Bolanos called on congress to "hear the cries of Nicaragua, that at
the end of the process justice should be done".
Though they are bitter enemies now, Mr Bolanos was vice-president during
part of Mr Aleman's presidency. It was Mr Aleman who chose Mr Bolanos as
the Liberal party candidate for president in last November's elections.
Mr Aleman has fought back, using congress to paralyse the government. He
refused to approve the presidential budget and delayed a package of tax
reforms Nicaragua needs to qualify for new credit from the International
Monetary Fund and start the process of cancelling its crippling debt.
Mr Bolanos needs 47 votes in congress to remove Mr Aleman's immunity,
but he can count on only 45: a handful of Liberal party rebels plus
Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas.

The Guardian Weekly 22-8-2002, page 5