Alberto Fuentes Knight, chairman of Oxfam International and a former Guatemala finance minister, is arrested on corruption charges in Guatemala City on February 13, 2018 along with former president Alvaro Colom © AFP / Johan ORDONEZ
Guatemala City, Guatemala, Feb 14 – The chairman of under-fire British charity group Oxfam International, Juan Alberto Fuentes Knight, was arrested Tuesday in his native Guatemala in a swoop related to government graft allegations, officials said.
He was detained along with former president Alvaro Colom, and other members of Colom’s 2008-2012 government, in which Fuentes served as finance minister.
Fuentes’s arrest came as Oxfam is being shaken by revelations that some of its staff used prostitutes in Haiti and Chad, as well as accusations of sexual assault in South Sudan.
The allegations have led to the resignation of Oxfam’s deputy chief Penny Lawrence and intense scrutiny from the British government, which partly funds the charity, to the tune of $44 million last year.
There was no suggestion of any link between the Guatemala graft accusations and the scandal engulfing Oxfam.
An Oxfam spokesperson said: “As far as we are aware, no formal charges have been made against Dr Fuentes Knight. He has been entirely open with the Oxfam board and executive about the investigation which began after he was appointed as Oxfam chair.”
The spokesperson said Fuentes “maintains his innocence and assures us that he has cooperated fully with the investigation.”
Oxfam International is a confederation of 20 non-governmental organizations that fight poverty in more than 90 countries.
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