Guatemala prosecutors find $16mn in cash stashed in abandoned house

Anti-corruption investigators in Guatemala announced on Friday that they had seized $16mn in cash stashed in suitcases at a disused house.

The money, in dollars, euros and local currency quetzales, was found in 22 suitcases stacked in the bathroom of an abandoned house in the Caribbean seaside resort of Antigua, said Guatemala’s top anti-graft investigator, Juan Francisco Sandoval. Sandoval, who heads the office of the Special Prosecutor against Impunity (FECI), said the stash was probably bribes that had been paid to a former civil servant.

He told reporters that the residence was searched following “information about the existence of a property in which large sums of money were stored”.

Cameras were also found at the scene, supposedly monitoring movements at the house.