Julio Roberto Suárez Guerra is a Guatemalan banker who served as the president of the Bank of Guatemala from 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2018. He spent the majority of his term detained, relating to a large-scale fraud case, of which he was cleared on appeal in July 2019.[1]
Julio Roberto Suárez Guerra | |
|---|---|
| President of the Bank of Guatemala | |
| In office 1 October 2014 – 30 September 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Edgar Barquín |
| Succeeded by | Sergio Francisco Recinos Rivera |
| Personal details | |
| Alma mater | Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala |
Career
editSuárez obtained a degree from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.[2] From 2002 to 2005 he worked for the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.[3] Suárez also worked as the Guatemalan representative to the International Monetary Fund.[2] Suárez served as Vice President of the Bank of Guatemala from 2006 until his appointment as President per 1 October 2014.[3] He succeeded Edgar Barquín.[2]
On 20 May 2015 Suárez was arrested together with fifteen others on accusations of fraud, illegal charging of commissions, illicit association and influence peddling.[4][5] Suárez himself was accused of fraud.[4] The accusations were linked to the awarding of a contract to the Empresa Farmaceútica Pisa de Guatemala with services to the Guatemalan Social Security Institute, in which the accused were suspected of receiving kickbacks.[5] Suárez spent 3,5 years in detention before his trial commenced.[6] On 26 September 2018 he, and eleven others, were convicted of fraud and sentenced to six years and 3 months imprisonment.[7] On 5 July 2019 an appeal led to the clearing of the charges against Suárez.[1]
Suárez's term in office as President of the Bank of Guatemala ended on 30 September 2018, he was succeeded by Sergio Francisco Recinos Rivera.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b Willian Cumes, Nimsi Rosales, Keneth Monzón (5 July 2019). "Sala anula sentencia y absuelve a 5 exdirectivos del Seguro Social en caso IGSS Pisa Chiquimula" (in Spanish). Prensa Libre. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c Michael D. McDonald (18 September 2014). "Julio Suarez Picked to Lead Guatemala's Central Bank". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
- ^ a b "Julio Suárez appointed next Bank of Guatemala President". Central Banking.com. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
- ^ a b "Caso IGSS: 17 capturas, entre ellas la del Presidente del Banguat" (in Spanish). Soy 502. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
- ^ a b Jude Webber (21 May 2015). "Guatemala's central bank chief arrested". Financial Times. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
- ^ Glenda Sanchez (23 September 2018). "Julio Suárez y los mil 278 días en prisión preventiva" (in Spanish). República. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018.
- ^ Kenneth Monzón (26 September 2018). "Condenan a 12 y absuelven a nueve en caso IGSS Pisa Chiquimula" (in Spanish). Prensa Libre. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019.
- ^ "Presidentes" (in Spanish). Bank of Guatemala. Retrieved 4 April 2020.