Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- America Movil says it is auditing payments that its Guatemala subsidiary Telgua made to a political party, company executive told Bloomberg.

• Contributions of the kind are allowed by law but might have not followed certain rules and regulations as well as the company’s internal controls
• Telgua executive assumed responsibility for way payments were made and is willing to cooperate with investigators
• Guatemalan police arrested 17 people on suspicion of involvement in a web of money laundering and illegal election financing, Reuters reported Friday
• Former communications minister Alejandro Sinibaldi allegedly ran scheme when serving under former president Otto Perez Molina, creating a series of shell companies to launder money he collected in bribes, Reuters reported
• Investigators found evidence of payments from Telgua in Sinibaldi’s account, Reuters reported; payments were intended to secure the company favorable treatment in dispute with rival, an investigator told Reuters
• America Movil did not receive any benefits from said payments as matter was resolved privately and without any involvement from authorities, company told Bloomberg

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Navarro in Mexico City at anavarro30@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5@bloomberg.net Cyntia Barrera Diaz