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Revision as of 17:39, 7 December 2009 by Alb28 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Marcelo Chimirri is a brother-in-law of Manuel Zelaya. Chimirri was appointed as the head of the state-owned telecom company Hondutel after Zelaya became president.
Early life
Chimirri is a brother-in-law of Manuel Zelaya, a rich businessman. Chimirri is a citizen of both Italy and Honduras.
On January 1998, Yadira Miguel Mejia was found dead in a septic tank in Honduras. Mejia was pregnant and according to her friend, the father was Marcelo Chimirri.
Zelaya presidency
Chimirri was appointed as the head of the state-owned telecom company Hondutel after his brother-in-law became president.
On May 8, 2006, Chimirri attacked Octavio Carvajal, a journalist who had raised embarrassing questions. Chimirri reportedly grabbed Carvajal by the throat and said "I am not intimidating you because I am not someone who makes threats - I act and I execute... the president’s office is irritated by all the questions you have been asking."
Missing millions
On September 8, 2007, Mexican newspaper El Universal noted that between 2005 and 2006, the first year of President Manuel Zelaya's administration, Hondutel's income strangely decreased 47%. Given that Hondutel is the only organization that can legally receive international calls, there was no logical reason why this had happened, raising questions where the money had went. Chimirri threatened El Universal with legal action.
The financial irregularities were later reported in Honduran media. Marcelo Chimirri sued the journalists.. One of Chimirri's targets, Renato Alvarez was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison for releasing the story. His civil rights were also suspended, including the right to vote, administration of property, taking on a public function and parental rights or authority.
FBI investigations
Chimirri had made secret deals with American company called Latinode. Latinode sold its operations in 2007 to eLandia International Inc. The new owners discovered the corrupt deals and notified U.S. prosecutors.
The FBI Criminal Division's Fraud Section concluded that Chimirri had used so-called gray traffic (tráfico gris) to make million to Latin Node, which in return transferred money to Chimirri and a number of other people in Honduras.
Chimirri denies FBI's evidence against him, saying that the accusers are seeing "pink elephants" and using "who knows what kind of psychotropic substances".
Police raid
Police raided Chimirri's residence in November 2007 and found illegal weapons, including two Thompson submachine guns and a 30 mm rifle.
References
- "Radio journalist flees to US after being threatened by state phone company official". Reporters Without Borders. 2006-05-12.
- "Revelan en EU presunto fraude en Honduras". El Universal. 2007-09-08.
- Ordenan a Chimirri dar datos
- Inadmisible querella
- Reporters Without Borders protests against TV journalist’s jail sentence
- ^ "Of Telephones and Corruption in Latin America: How a Bribery Case Involving a Florida Company Contributed to the Fall of the Government in Honduras". Pepper Hamilton LLP.
- Hondutel investigation almost complete
- Department of Justice Press Release
- Former director of Honduras' telephone company wiretapes president's conversations