President resists pressure to resign

President Otto Perez dismissed corruption allegations leveled against him by prosecutors and said on Sunday he will not stand down, despite mounting pressure on the government and calls for his impeachment as a presidential election looms.

In a combative, prerecorded address that was televised to the nation, an animated Perez said he had received no money from the customs racket to which investigators have linked him, and stressed that his conscience "was clear".

Guatemala's attorney general and a UN-backed anti-corruption body, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, known as CICIG, sought to impeach Perez on Friday after months of investigation into the scheme known as La Linea, or "the line", after a phone hotline used in the customs tax avoidance racket.