Oxfam chairman, Guatemala ex-president put on trial for corruption

GUATEMALA CITY: Oxfam´s chairman and Guatemala´s former president are to face trial on corruption charges over alleged graft in a public bus contract, a judge in this Central American country ruled.Juan Alberto Fuentes, the Guatemalan chairman of the British-based charity Oxfam International, and Alvaro Colom, who was Guatemala´s head of state between 2008 and 2012, were arrested February 13. Most of Colom´s cabinet were also detained. Although unrelated to the allegations rocking Oxfam of sexual exploitation and misconduct by its staff in Haiti and other countries, the case against Fuentes darkens the cloud over the organization, which has been cut off from British state funding. Oxfam previously noted the alleged corruption matter against Fuentes pre-dated his appointment as chairman, harking back to when he served as Colom´s finance minister. The trial will examine a $35 million public contract made in 2009 for the purchase of hundreds of buses to ply routes in San Salvador.