Morales' decision, approved by the country's business elite,[4] triggered an institutional crisis in Guatemala, as the Constitutional court sided with CICIG.
[8] It was created on December 12, 2006, when the United Nations and Guatemala signed a treaty-level agreement setting up CICIG as an independent body to support the Public Prosecutor's Office (Procuraduría General de la Nación), the National Civilian Police (Policía Nacional Civil) and other state institutions in the investigation of sensitive and difficult cases.
The ultimate goal of CICIG's work is to strengthen national judicial institutions, to allow them to continue to confront illegal groups and organized crime in the future.
[9] On March 24, 2009, Guatemala's Minister of Foreign Relations, Haroldo Rodas, requested, through a personal letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the extension of CICIG's mandate for an additional two years.
The extension was confirmed on April 15, 2009, when Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent a personal response to the Minister of Foreign Relations, expressing the UN's desire to have CICIG continue its work supporting national institutions for another two years.
[13] However, on 9 January 2019, Guatemala's constitutional court suspended the decision "after eight hours of deliberation overnight"[14] CICIG's mandate consists of three principal objectives: CICIG has the legal ability to support the Public Prosecutor's Office in criminal prosecutions, and participate as a complementary prosecutor (querellante adhesivo), in conformity with Guatemala's Code of Criminal Procedure.
[16] In subpoenaing seemingly innocuous documents (tax statements), investigators were able to piece together an immense financial scheme, which reported fraud stretching back to 2008.