Summary A congressional committee is currently probing how much Perez knew about fraud by senior officials.
GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) - Guatemalan President Otto Perez said Thursday the corruption investigation against him is unfounded as he fought the possible lifting of his presidential immunity.
A congressional committee is currently probing how much Perez knew about fraud by senior officials in the customs and social security systems.
Perez condemned what he called a "purely political, or spurious, or illegitimate situation," and questioned the opposition-dominated committee s jurisdiction in the case.
The probe against Perez was requested by opposition party Winaq after a UN-backed investigation aimed at cleaning up the Guatemalan judicial system reported in April that senior customs officials had taken bribes from businessmen seeking to avoid paying taxes.
The Supreme Court endorsed the request last week, asking Congress to set up an investigative committee and consider lifting Perez s immunity.
Perez was due to testify before the committee Thursday, but instead sent a written defense.
In it, he said the Supreme Court should have ruled on the substance of the case itself rather than passing it along to Congress.
"The Supreme Court is not a pre-trial processing system," he wrote. "It must search for the facts."
The head of the committee, opposition lawmaker Baudilio Hichos, meanwhile resigned after prosecutors and the UN anti-corruption commission accused him of involvement in social security fraud.
Guatemala has been in political upheaval since the UN commission began publishing its findings on the customs fraud scheme, leading to the resignation of vice president Roxana Baldetti.
In a separate scandal, the president of the central bank and the director of the social security system -- both of whom are close to Perez -- were arrested in May on charges of cheating the social security system out of $15 million.
