Julio Suárez

Julio Roberto Suárez Guerra is a Guatemalan banker who served as the president of the Bank of Guatemala from 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2018. He spent the majority of his term detained, relating to a large-scale fraud case, of which he was cleared on appeal in July 2019.^[1]

Julio Roberto Suárez Guerra
President of the Bank of Guatemala
In office 1 October 2014 – 30 September 2018
Preceded by	Edgar Barquín
Succeeded by	Sergio Francisco Recinos Rivera
Personal details
Alma mater	Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala

Career

Suárez obtained a degree from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.^[2] From 2002 to 2005 he worked for the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.^[3] Suárez also worked as the Guatemalan representative to the International Monetary Fund.^[2] Suárez served as Vice President of the Bank of Guatemala from 2006 until his appointment as President per 1 October 2014.^[3] He succeeded Edgar Barquín.^[2]

On 20 May 2015 Suárez was arrested together with fifteen others on accusations of fraud, illegal charging of commissions, illicit association and influence peddling.^[4][5] Suárez himself was accused of fraud.^[4] The accusations were linked to the awarding of a contract to the Empresa Farmaceútica Pisa de Guatemala with services to the Guatemalan Social Security Institute, in which the accused were suspected of receiving kickbacks.^[5] Suárez spent 3,5 years in detention before his trial commenced.^[6] On 26 September 2018 he, and eleven others, were convicted of fraud and sentenced to six years and 3 months imprisonment.^[7] On 5 July 2019 an appeal led to the clearing of the charges against Suárez.^[1]

Suárez's term in office as President of the Bank of Guatemala ended on 30 September 2018, he was succeeded by Sergio Francisco Recinos Rivera.^[8]

References

1. Willian Cumes, Nimsi Rosales, Keneth Monzón (5 July 2019). "Sala anula sentencia y absuelve a 5 exdirectivos del Seguro Social en caso IGSS Pisa Chiquimula" (in Spanish). Prensa Libre. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. Michael D. McDonald (18 September 2014). "Julio Suarez Picked to Lead Guatemala's Central Bank". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
3. "Julio Suárez appointed next Bank of Guatemala President". Central Banking.com. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
4. "Caso IGSS: 17 capturas, entre ellas la del Presidente del Banguat" (in Spanish). Soy 502. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
5. Jude Webber (21 May 2015). "Guatemala's central bank chief arrested". Financial Times. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
6. Glenda Sanchez (23 September 2018). "Julio Suárez y los mil 278 días en prisión preventiva" (in Spanish). República. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018.
7. Kenneth Monzón (26 September 2018). "Condenan a 12 y absuelven a nueve en caso IGSS Pisa Chiquimula" (in Spanish). Prensa Libre. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019.
8. "Presidentes" (in Spanish). Bank of Guatemala. Retrieved 4 April 2020.