Image copyright Reuters Image caption Jimmy Morales bought sports clothes and bottles of rum with public money

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales has shrugged off criticism levelled against him for claiming $40,000 (£29,000) in expenses in 2017.

Mr Morales, who was a comedian before becoming president in 2016, claimed for luxury goods such as a pair of designer sunglasses and whisky.

Guatemala has one of the highest inequality rates in Latin America.

At $20,000 per month, Mr Morales receives one of the highest salaries of any president in the region.

He campaigned on a promise to root out corruption using the campaign slogan "Neither corrupt, nor a thief".

Breath mints and running socks

The president reacted angrily when he was questioned about his expenses during a news conference on Monday.

Asked why he had not paid for a pair of sunglasses by designer Carolina Herrera worth almost $3,000 himself, he said: "Because I don't have to pay for them out of my salary. (...) I was handed that pair of glasses, do you think I go asking for those kind of purchases?"

Goods worth a total of $40,000 were paid for by the presidential office of administrative affairs in 2017.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Guatemalans have been marching against corruption and demanding that Mr Morales step down

In a statement, the office said that part of its duties was to offer administrative and logistical support to the president and his family.

But details of the cost of the purchases made by the office have caused outrage in Guatemala, which has some of the worst poverty, malnutrition and maternal and child mortality rates in the region.

Among them are vitamins, bottles of rum, shampoo and sports items such as running socks, a golf cap, T-shirts and shorts.

Presidential spokesman Heinz Heimann defended the purchase of a tennis outfit for the president saying it was "for an official activity with the US ambassador".

"The president needed that gear to attend that invitation and it was last minute," Mr Heimann said.

The office also paid for a bottle of whisky worth more than $400 and paid out more than $4,000 for dry cleaning, according to an investigation by newspaper Nuevo Diario.

Anti-corruption group Justicia Ya (Justice Now) called the expenses "unjustifiable". "Jimmy Morales even bought mints with public money," the group said.

An investigation is under way to determine if the purchases were legal. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales announced Sunday he is expelling the head of a U.N. anti-corruption commission that is investigating the president’s campaign financing.

A video posted on the government’s Twitter site showed Morales declaring Ivan Velasquez “non grata” and ordering him to leave the country immediately. He also announced he was firing Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales for failure to carry out the expulsion.

Velasquez heads a 10-year-old commission of experts that has worked with Guatemalan prosecutors to root out corruption in the country. It was key to bringing down former President Otto Perez Molina, who was forced to resign in 2015 and remains in prison.

Chief prosecutor Thelma Aldana, working with the U.N. commission, announced on Friday that she was asking the Supreme Court recommend stripping Morales of his immunity from prosecution in order to investigate financing of his 2015 campaign, when he ran on the slogan “Neither corrupt nor a crook.” If the court agrees, the decision on immunity would be made by Congress.

The prosecutor said Morales had refused to account for more than $800,000 in campaign financing and had hidden his own party’s accounts.

Some 2,500 people demonstrated in the capital on Saturday to demand Morales resign. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Police have detained Guatemala’s former defense minister on charges of abuse of authority and illicit enrichment. He’s accused of approving inappropriate bonus payments for himself and President Jimmy Morales.

Former Defense Minister Williams Mansilla allegedly granted bonuses to himself and other officers and sent $61,000 to Morales.

Honduras’ Supreme Court ruled in October against a request by prosecutors to strip Morales of his immunity in the case.

The court ruled the federal controller had already sanctioned Morales by making him return the money and that he could not be sanctioned twice. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales on Friday shut down a crusading U.N.-sponsored anti-graft commission that has pressed a number of high-profile corruption probes - including one pending against the president himself over purported illicit campaign financing.

Speaking in front of civilian and military leaders, Morales said he had informed the U.N. secretary-general of his decision to revoke the body’s mandate and “immediately” begin transferring its capacities to Guatemalan institutions.

Minutes before the surprise announcement, U.S.-donated army vehicles that Guatemala uses to fight drug and other smuggling were deployed to the commission’s headquarters in the capital in what critics called an attempt at intimidation.

The decision caps a long history of friction between the president and the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG for its initials in Spanish.

In August 2017, Morales announced that he was expelling the commission’s chief, Ivan Velasquez, but that move was quickly blocked by Guatemala’s top court.

At the time Morales declared Velasquez a persona non grata and fired his foreign minister for refusing to carry out the order to expel him, before later backing off and saying he would obey the court’s decision.

Morales accused the commission Friday of “violating our laws, inducing people and institutions to participate in acts of corruption and impunity,” and “selective criminal prosecution with an ideological bias.”

“Selective justice has been used to intimidate and terrorize the citizenry,” he charged. “Judicial independence has been violated, with the intention of manipulating justice, actions that attack the presumption of innocence and due process.”

The announcement was promptly met with criticism from human rights officials and advocates.

“We sincerely regret the great mistake that the president made public in not renewing CICIG’s mandate,” Guatemalan human rights prosecutor Jordan Rodas said. “We are grateful for its valuable contribution in the country to the fight against corruption and impunity.”

Morales is suspected of receiving at least $1 million in undeclared contributions during the 2015 campaign. He has denied wrongdoing.

Last week the Supreme Court allowed a request brought by CICIG and Guatemalan prosecutors to strip his immunity from prosecution to go to Congress for consideration. If 105 lawmakers vote in favor, it could open him up to investigation for possible illicit campaign financing.

“I think there’s a conflict of interest, and an attempt by President Morales to try to protect his own interests in light of the ongoing investigation and probe,” said Adriana Beltran, director for citizen security at the Washington Office on Latin America, which advocates for human rights in the region.

Beltran said CICIG and Velasquez have made remarkable progress in strengthening the rule of law in Guatemala “despite constant attacks and efforts to try to undermine (their) work,” and that “there’s still much more that needs to be done.”

The commission released security camera video showing perhaps a dozen military jeeps taking up position curbside outside the headquarters Friday, some with soldiers manning machine gun turrets. CICIG spokesman Matias Ponce said they were there for a few minutes, and later returned and drove by without stopping. Ponce also told The Associated Press that police and army vehicles intercepted a car carrying a team from the commission on a street in the capital.

Rodas called the deployment an “oversize and intimidating presence.”

“It is an unnecessary military movement that reminds us of days past when there were coups, and now we are a democracy - nobody is above the law,” he said, adding that he would work to guarantee the safety of the commissioner and his team.

Prosecutors’ spokeswoman Julia Barrera said an investigation was opened “to see if any crime was committed” by deploying the vehicles.

The commission’s work with Guatemalan prosecutors has led to high-profile graft probes that ensnared dozens of politicians and businesspeople and even led to the downfall of former President Otto Perez Molina and his then-vice president.

The military deployment came the same day a U.N. human rights team was expelled from the Central American nation of Nicaragua after the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights published a critical report accusing President Daniel Ortega’s government of violent repression of opposition protests.

There was no immediate indication of a link between the two events. </s> Guatemalan security forces responded with pepper spray on Sunday when demonstrators tried to approach the Congress building, where President Jimmy Morales was presenting his second state of the union report.

Although authorities have not released official figures, the Red Cross attended to eight people among the hundreds who early Sunday gathered near the legislative seat to protest against the president's administration and policies. </s> Demonstrators protest against Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales in front of the National Palace in Guatemala City, Guatemala, August 27, 2017. REUTERS/Fabricio Alonzo

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales on Sunday appeared to defy a court ruling that he not expel the head of an influential U.N. anti-graft unit investigating his campaign financing, deepening an institutional crisis in the Central American nation.

Earlier on Sunday, the president said Ivan Velasquez, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG, must leave the country immediately. Hours later, the nation's top court suspended the decision.

In a nearly four-minute address in which he was flanked by Guatemalan flags, Morales accused Velasquez of exceeding his mandate. He said the decision to expel him was a matter of foreign policy and therefore the responsibility of the executive, not the courts.

In the charged atmosphere, hundreds of Guatemalans took to the streets, mostly to defend Velasquez outside his offices and in the center of Guatemala City, although some groups came out in support of the president and against foreign interference.

Velasquez, a veteran prosecutor who previously investigated drug cartels and paramilitary groups in his home country, Colombia, remained in his office on Sunday afternoon, where he was meeting with supportive foreign ambassadors.

The U.S. State Department said it was "deeply concerned" about the move against the anti-corruption unit, echoing criticism by the United Nations, Europe and Canada. Several senior members of Morales' government resigned over the issue.

In its ruling, the country's highest civil court said the foreign, defense and interior ministers should not participate in removing Velasquez from the country. Two constitutional experts consulted by Reuters said the president would be committing a crime if he does not obey the court.

With powers to prepare crime and corruption cases, CICIG was instrumental in removing Guatemala's former president, Otto Perez Molina, from office in 2015 after identifying him as a key player in an alleged multimillion-dollar corruption racket.

Morales, a former comedian, came to power in 2016, winning the election on an anti-corruption ticket.

Morales' declaration that Velasquez was "persona non grata" came days after CICIG said the president should be investigated over alleged illicit funding during his election campaign. CICIG is investigating some $800,000 in allegedly unexplained contributions to Morales' campaign. Morales has denied any wrongdoing.

CICIG has been a thorn in the president's side since it started a graft probe focused on his elder brother and one of his sons.

Many politicians in Guatemala consider the foreign-led body, which is unusual among U.N. bodies for its powers to bring cases to prosecutors, to be a violation of national sovereignty. Anti-corruption activists credit it with cleaning up government.

It is responsible for the arrests of at least 15 current and former members of Congress on corruption charges.

Guatemala's foreign minister, deputy foreign minister, health minister and three deputy health ministers all left the government earlier in the day, according to a spokesman and a resignation letter. The circumstances of the foreign minister's departure were not immediately clear, but he said on Friday he would resign if Velasquez were forced out.

"You've taken a position in favor of impunity and the corrupt sectors of the country, contradicting all of the statements you once made about justice and transparency,"

Health Minister Lucrecia Hernandez wrote in the letter, also signed by three vice ministers who resigned with her.

Guatemala has struggled to thwart corruption and organized crime since it ended 36 years of civil war in 1996, and memories have not faded of ruptures with democracy under a military government in the 1980s.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement he was "shocked" by Morales' move, and called on Guatemalan authorities to treat Velasquez with respect. In a joint statement issued by the U.S. Embassy, a group of nine Western countries and the European Union strongly backed Velasquez and criticized Morales' move to oust him.

Representative Eliot Engel of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee said he was "extremely disappointed" by Morales' decision and called on the State Department and Congress to examine the future of U.S. assistance to the Guatemalan government.

"CICIG has played a transformational role in combating corruption and impunity in Guatemala," he said in a statement. </s> President Jimmy Morales announced Sunday that he was expelling the head of a U.N. anti-corruption commission that is investigating his campaign's financing — only to have the order quickly blocked by Guatemala's top court.

Morales' move also drew criticism from the international community, including the United States, and at least two protests sprang up in the capital to decry the order.

A video posted on the government's Twitter site early Sunday showed Morales declaring Ivan Velasquez "non grata" and ordering him to leave the country immediately. The president also announced he was firing Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales for failing to carry out the expulsion.

Morales said nothing of kicking out the entire commission of foreign experts, but the expulsion would leave its future unclear. The decade-old panel has worked with Guatemalan prosecutors to root out corruption and was key to bringing down former President Otto Perez Molina, who was forced to resign in 2015 and remains in prison.

Within hours, Francisco de Mata Vela, head of Guatemala's Constitutional Court, said that body had issued a temporary injunction blocking the order to expel Velasquez. The court will now analyze the case before reaching a definitive decision. It was not clear how long that would take.

Morales released another video at midafternoon affirming his decision to boot Velasquez. He said Velasquez overstepped his authority by improperly pressuring the country's legislative process and making public accusations against Guatemalans in spite of a presumption of innocence and guarantee of due process.

Chief prosecutor Thelma Aldana, working with the U.N. commission, announced Friday that she was asking the top court to recommend stripping Morales of his immunity from prosecution in order to investigate financing of his 2015 campaign, when he ran on the slogan, "Neither corrupt nor a crook." If the court agrees, the decision on immunity would be made by Congress.

The prosecutor said Morales had refused to account for more than $800,000 in campaign financing and had hidden his own party's accounts. Velasquez said at the joint news conference with Aldana that financing of some campaign expenditures could not be explained.

The embassies of international donor countries that support the U.N. commission — United States, Germany, Canada, Spain, France, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland as well as the European Union — issued a joint statement regretting Morales' decision.

The commission "has played a vital role in the fight against impunity and corruption that undermine security and prosperity in Guatemala. The decision to expel Commissioner Ivan Velasquez harms the ability of [the commission] to achieve its mandate," the statement said.

U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed disappointment in Morales' decision. In a statement, he said the U.S. government would examine the future of its foreign assistance to Guatemala.

Later Sunday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement that the U.S. was "deeply concerned" by Morales' decision. She said Velasquez has been an effective leader of the commission and "it remains crucial that [the commission] be permitted to work free from interference by the Guatemalan government."

Guatemala's human rights prosecutor, Jordan Rodas, joined in one of the demonstrations at which people shouted support for Velasquez. He also spent time with Velasquez to guarantee his safety and said Velasquez stressed that he continued to lead the commission.

"The commissioner was doing well and is very appreciative of the support," Rodas said.

Health Minister Lucrecia Hernandez Mack and her deputies resigned, saying that by expelling Velasquez, Morales had taken a position in favor of impunity and the corrupt sectors of the country.

The president's action Sunday capped days of speculation that Morales would move against Velasquez. The president traveled to the U.N. last week to meet with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the government said topics included circumscribing the mandate of the anti-corruption commission led by Velasquez.

Mike Allison, a political science professor at the University of Scranton, said that by the time Morales arrived in New York, the international community had made clear Velasquez had its full backing. That left Morales in a difficult position of either waiting for the commission's investigation to proceed and potentially force him from office or be proactive and push Velasquez out, Allison said.

Allison said the commission and the prosecutors and investigators it has helped train represent Guatemala's best hope for a better future. "An attack upon them is an attack upon everyone in Guatemala who is fighting for a better country," he said.

In May, a Guatemalan judge ordered that the brother and son of Morales stand trial on fraud charges. They are accused of submitting about $23,000 of false receipts in a tax fraud scheme in 2013, before Morales took office. Both have maintained their innocence.

Perez Molina resigned along with his vice president, Roxana Baldetti, in 2015 and both remain jailed awaiting trial on corruption charges related to a huge customs fraud scheme.

They have also been investigated on charges of bribery and money laundering stemming from a criminal graft network. Prosecutors alleged that Perez Molina received about $37.9 million from companies in return for awarding construction contracts. He also is accused of accepting a helicopter, a sports car, a plane and other gifts. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said on Friday his government had decided not to renew the mandate of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a U.N.-backed anti-corruption body that has targeted him and his predecessor.

“We have officially notified the Secretary General of the United Nations that we will not renew the mandate of the CICIG,” Morales told a news conference.

Morales has had a tumultuous relationship with the CICIG, which attempted to have him impeached for alleged corruption.

His predecessor as Guatemalan president, Otto Perez, was removed from office due to a graft probe led by the CICIG, and is still in prison while on trial. </s> GUATEMALA CITY, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales on Monday showed signs of wavering on his decision to expel the head of a United Nations-backed anti-graft unit, who is investigating the leader's campaign financing.

Morales on Sunday declared Ivan Velasquez, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), "persona non grata" and ordered him to leave the Central American country immediately. Hours later, the nation's top court suspended the decision.

After two days of protests in the capital and criticism from the United States and European Union, there were signs Morales could backtrack on his initial insistence that he had the authority to expel Velasquez.

Government spokesperson Heinz Heimann said on Monday Morales was studying the court decision to suspend his order to force out Velasquez, saying the government would respect the law.

"The resolution is being legally analyzed, respecting the rule of law, the laws and separation of powers," said Heimann, who also "completely" ruled out rumors the government could declare a state of emergency due to the protests.

It is not yet clear if Morales will challenge the court, a move that could put him in contempt and at risk of losing his job, according to constitutional experts consulted by Reuters.

"Bring Jimmy Morales to justice!," hundreds of students chanted in unison as they marched towards the presidential palace in downtown Guatemala City on Monday.

Velasquez, who previously investigated drug cartels and paramilitary groups in his homeland Colombia, was declared "persona non grata" days after the CICIG said Morales should be investigated over alleged illicit funding in his election run.

With powers to prepare crime and corruption cases, the CICIG was in 2015 instrumental in removing from office former Guatemalan president Otto Perez after identifying him as a key player in an alleged multi-million-dollar corruption racket.

The CICIG has been strongly backed by western powers.

"We expect the Guatemalan government to allow CICIG to do its critical work without interference," said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.

The European Union said the decision to declare Velasquez persona non grata put at great risk the work initiated by the CICIG on strengthening the rule of law in Guatemala.

Morales, a former comedian, won election in late 2015 after riding a wave of public discontent over the corruption scandals that brought down his predecessor Perez. (Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel and Sofia Menchu; Additional reporting by Luis Echeverria; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Andrew Hay)
President Jimmy Morales is questioned about the high costs he spends to buy food and other luxury items.