Swiss coffee trader in Guatemala: corrupt or victim of corruption?

Swiss citizen Ulrich Gurtner is sitting in a Guatemalan prison, accused of money laundering and tax evasion. His activities on behalf of local small coffee farmers have long been a thorn in the side of the central American country’s authorities. The 68-year-old has yet to face a formal trial even though the indictment started more than a year ago. Gurtner’s supporters say the allegations against him are fabricated and politically motivated. Who is really corrupt – Gurtner or the Guatemalan judicial system? Who is Ulrich Gurtner? The businessman from Winterthur has worked as a coffee trader in Guatemala for decades following stints as a footballer for his hometown club FC Winterthur and then as a trainee banker in Switzerland. Gurtner was first sent to Guatemala in the 1980s by his then employer, commodities trader Gebrüder Volkart. But he was forced by the Guatemalan authorities to return home after refusing to pay bribes to local officials, he told the Beobachter magazine in April.