Guatemala’s controversial prosecutor’s office announced Wednesday that it has asked the Supreme Court to lift the immunity of the country’s president, Bernardo Arevalo, accusing him of authorizing “illegal” payments to construction companies.

A request to lift President Arevalo’s immunity has been “submitted” to the top justice institution, prosecutor Rafael Kuruchitse, who has been sanctioned by the US and the EU for corruption, announced during a press conference.

The prosecutor accuses the Social Democrat president of ordering former communications minister Yazmin de la Vega to pay millions of dollars to companies allegedly involved in corruption cases.

Prosecutor Kuruchitse assured that “we have documented” that “the president (…) is the main promoter of corruption and impunity in Guatemala”.

“Mr. Kuručitse’s absurdities have no place in criminal proceedings”, was the reaction of the presidency’s communication secretariat, in a message distributed to the media.

Since last year, Mr Arevalo and the controversial Attorney General Consuelo Porras have been engaged in a merciless war.

The Guatemalan president has been trying since taking power in January to force her to resign, who the US and EU have also blacklisted as “corrupt” and “anti-democratic” actors.

In May, the president presented a judicial reform plan intended to make it easier to remove Ms Pora from office, as he is legally unable to remove her, but the text did not go through parliament.

Mr Arevalo, who won the presidential election on a promise to fight endemic corruption in the Central American country, accused the attorney general of orchestrating an attempted “coup” when she maneuvered the courts to prevent him from taking power.

Guatemala ranks 154th on the corruption perception list compiled by the NGO Transparency International, with a score of 23/100.