Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales is one step closer to being prosecuted. The supreme court (CSJ) this week ruled that the national legislature should vote on whether he should be stripped of his immunity from prosecution so that he can be investigated for the alleged irregular campaign financing of his Frente de Convergencia Nacional (FCN-Nación) party in the 2015 general election campaign. The move is in line with a request filed on 25 August by the attorney general’s office (AG) and United Nations (UN)-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig), whose director Iván Velásquez, Morales unsuccessfully sought to expel from the country, sparking a major political crisis [WR-17-34]. With some of Guatemala’s other political parties themselves facing similar accusations, the CSJ’s ruling has subjected the 158-member unicameral national legislature – one of the country’s least trusted institutions – to major scrutiny. End of preview - This article contains approximately 1170 words.
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