Guatemalan business leaders on Wednesday added their voices to growing calls for the vice-president to step down because of a customs corruption scandal in which her former private secretary is implicated.
Jorge Briz, president of a prominent trade association representing agricultural, commercial, industrial and financial businesses, said Vice-President Roxana Baldetti's resignation would be good for the Guatemala.
"It would have a positive impact on society (and) it would strengthen democracy in the country," Briz told reporters.
Baldetti has not been implicated in the scandal and denies any involvement. She has said she does not intend to step down, and President Otto Perez Molina has declined to ask for her resignation.
But demands for her resignation have mounted in recent weeks, including a protest last Saturday when thousands of people marched in the capital.
Authorities announced last month that more than a dozen people had been detained in connection with the scandal, in which officials allegedly took bribes in exchange for charging lower import tariffs. The scheme is believed to have bilked the state out of millions of dollars.
Officials singled out Baldetti's aide, Juan Carlos Monzon Rojas, as the ringleader, and at least 50 other people are suspected of involvement including the country's current and former tax chiefs.
Monzon is being sought by authorities.
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