Ex–president Alemán charged with corruption

August 7th, 2002 will be remembered in Nicaraguan history as the day a former President and most of his closest family was officially charged on suspicion of money-laundering. Civil society is now playing an important role in Nicaragua’s fight against corruption.

Nicaragua woke up with a new sense of dignity this morning, following a historic event last night during which former president Arnoldo Alemán was officially charged on suspicion of planning and participating in a 100 million dollar fraud during his reign as President of the Republic (1996–January 2002). According to local experts, a conviction of the ex–president could result in minimum four years of imprisonment and a fine of twice the stolen amount.

The presentation of evidence was broadcast live on national television, and revealed a complicated, but according to the prosecutor quite typical, setup for “washing” the huge amounts of money. The scheme involved several members of Arnoldo Aleman’s closest family, including a brother and sister, as well as Alemán’s daughter María Dolores Alemán. Ex–ministers and close friends were also charged, some of which have months ago abandoned the country. However, one of the central figures in the corruption complot, the former Chief of Department of Taxes Byron Jeréz, remains in prison since March on the basis of another charge of corruption. All in all, fourteen persons were charged.

Fight of giants

Yesterday’s charges were made public after months of speculations, hints and semi–official comments by investigators, government and civil society representatives. Already when he was sworn in as new President in January 2002, Alemán’s former vice–president, Enrique Bolaños, announced his decision to fight corruption at all levels. Since then, the relationship between the former colleagues worsened, leading to a legislative stand–still in parliament where Alemán has control of the majority of members. Using a highly criticized plot Alemán was in January able to switch the office of the President of the Republic, with that of the President of the Parliament.

Bolaños’ constant mention of the former Alemán administration’s fraud and corruption quickly assured him widespread public support, but at the same time caused anger and fear among the liberal members of parliament, who find themselves torn between the loyalty to the party’s former President of the Republic, and the party’s present President of the Republic. Apart from Alemán being able to avoid that the parliament strip him of his immunity, the result has been a very successful attempt to block any of President Bolaños’ initiatives to get the limping economy back on its feet.

Civil society play decisive role

Civil society organizations have not been sitting on their behinds during the first six months of the country’s fight against corruption, even though attempts to organize massive manifestations and asking the public to sign a petition to nullify Alemán’s immunity have all had limited effects. However, with the publication of a letter to the international community last Wednesday, 94 civil society leaders helped the Executive to take a giant step forward. In the letter, signed by seven former presidents and vice–presidents, ex–ministers, business people, media representatives, intellectuals and artists as well as leaders of civil society organizations, the petitioners asked the international community to help Nicaragua fight the evils of the past. In order to release promised loans to help kick–start the Nicaraguan economy, international donor organizations have insisted that a tax–reform has to be passed, but Alemán’s control of the parliament has so far made this step impossible.

The fear of the signers of the “Letter of the 90” is that if the loans are not released, Bolaños’ popularity might turn into public anger because the government is unable to fulfill electoral promises about creating jobs for the 50 percent of the population, who at present do not have a steady job.

“Pretending that Nicaragua be submitted to the same requirements as a country in a normal situation would not be fair at all, and would only be of any good to those who have caused the present situation. Nicaragua has the possibility to become a role model for fighting corruption. But if the international community does not support us, it will instead support those who are engaged in corruption. Failing to succeed in this fight would be to set a bad example, not only in Nicaragua, but in all Latin America”, claims the 90 signing nobilities.

President backs civil society

Following the formal accusation of Alemán yesterday, President Bolaños made a public announcement in which he expressed “sadness, pain and disillusion because of the clear and convincing evidence that the ex–president planned and participated in a fraud that involved the little money that our people have. I never imagined that you would betray your people. You took money from the pensions. You took medicine from the sick. You took salaries from the teachers. You abused peoples’ confidence!”, exclaimed the visibly affected Executive.

The President then backed the civil society petition to members of the parliament to vote in favor of nullifying Alemán’s immunity and have him and the other accused face trial on the charges. 47 votes are needed to strip the ex–president of his immunity, and Bolaños at present hold 46. In order to increase public pressure, Bolaños asked the Nicaraguans to join civil society leaders and himself in a continued, peaceful crusade against corruption.

Civil society: Return the stolen

Hundreds of nobilities and common citizens witnessed the presentation of the evidence in a major conference center in the capital Managua, while tight security assured law and order in surrounding streets. Following the televised event, civil society leaders expressed hope that this new battle against corruption might not only have the consequence that the guilty be punished, but also that the stolen money be returned.

“We are surprised by the amount and the methods used to rob the Nicaraguan people of its joy and future. They have to pay for this, not only by facing charges in Court, but also by returning the stolen and paying for what is unpayable: the future of the children who were left with no education and the Nicaraguans with no jobs. There cannot be any doubt that the members of Parliament should strip Alemán of his immunity, such as the people demand”, said Ana Quirós from the civil society umbrella structure Coordinadora Civil.

Before the presentation of evidence, President Bolaños had talked about a so–called “guaca” (native grave containing treasures), but Gabriel Solórzano from the respected non–governmental organization Etica y Transparencia did not agree: “This is not a ‘guaca’, it is an entire cemetery if the Court proves the prosecutor to be right. With this kind of money, we could have made 100.000 homes, we would not need to pass the new tax–law, we would be building hospitals and producing milk and food, buying books for the schools”, claimed the civil society representative.