In March, a Guatemalan court ruled that Portillo can be extradited to the US [JURIST report] to face charges of money laundering. He is accused of taking $15.8 million from funds designated for the Guatemalan Ministry of Defense and siphoning it into bank accounts in Europe and Bermuda. Portillo was arrested [BBC report] in January following an arrest warrant issued by Guatemala [JURIST report] based on the US indictment. In 2008, Portillo was extradited [JURIST report] back to Guatemala from Mexico, where he had fled after his immunity expired along with his term in office. The extradition order was first signed [JURIST report] in 2006, but Portillo challenged it until the Mexican Supreme Court ruled against him in January 2008. Lawyers for the Portillo and his minsters maintain their innocence, arguing that they were acting within the country's constitutional limits.