OFAC Sanctions Guatemalan Ex-Official for Corruption Under Magnitsky Act

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Guatemalan ex-official last week for engaging in widespread bribery schemes, including schemes related to government contracts, OFAC said in a news release. Luis Miguel Martinez Morales is former head of the now-defunct Centro de Gobierno, and used that position to influence the “government contracts process to benefit himself and close associates,” OFAC said. He also “solicited large kickbacks to facilitate the purchase of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines by the Government of Guatemala,” OFAC said. Martinez was designated under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the agency said.