Libro Segundo Título VIII. De los delitos contra la fe pública y el patrimonio nacional

Whoever manufactures false currency imitating legitimate national or foreign currency, of legal tender in the Republic or outside it, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of two to ten years.

Whoever alters, in any manner, legitimate national or foreign currency of legal tender in the Republic or outside it, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of two to ten years.

The sanctions indicated in the preceding articles shall be applied, in the respective cases, to those who, knowingly, introduce counterfeit or altered currency into the country.

Whoever, knowingly, acquires or receives counterfeit or altered currency and puts it into circulation in any manner, shall be sanctioned with the same penalty as that indicated in the respective cases for those who counterfeited or altered currency.

Whoever clips lawful currency or, knowingly, introduces clipped coins into the country, or puts them into circulation, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of six months to two years.

Whoever, having received in good faith false, altered or clipped currency, expends it or puts it into circulation, knowing of its falsity, alteration or clipping, shall be sanctioned with a fine of fifty to two thousand quetzales.

Whoever, unlawfully, issues monetary pieces or causes them to circulate within the territory of the Republic, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of three to twelve years.

Whoever circulates banknotes, vouchers, promissory notes or other documents containing an order or promise of cash payment, to bearer and on demand, or tokens, cards, small sheets, small plates or other objects, with the purpose that they serve as currency, shall incur the same penalty.

For the purposes of criminal law, the following is considered currency:

1º.Legal-tender banknotes, national or foreign.

2º.National or municipal debt instruments and their coupons.

3º.Bonds or notes of the national or municipal treasuries.

4º.Bearer titles, certificates and shares and their coupons, issued with official character by legally authorized entities, public or private.

5º.Bearer titles, certificates and shares, their coupons and bonds and notes issued by a foreign government.

Whoever makes, in whole or in part, a false public document, or alters a true one, in such a manner that harm may result, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of two to six years.

Whoever, on the occasion of the granting, authorization or formalization of a public document, inserts or causes to be inserted false statements concerning a fact that the document must prove, in such a manner that harm may result, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of two to six years.

Whoever, in a private document, commits any of the falsifications referred to in the two preceding articles, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment from one to three years.

When the acts provided for in the first two articles of this chapter involve credit instruments, nominative or to order, or bills of exchange, or other instruments transferable by endorsement, the liable party shall be sanctioned, in the respective cases, with the penalty established by those same articles.

Whoever, without having intervened in the falsification, makes use of a falsified document, knowing of its falsity, shall be sanctioned with the same penalty as that corresponding to the author of the falsification.

The physician who issues a false certificate concerning the present or past existence or non-existence of a disease or injury, where harm may result therefrom, shall be sanctioned with a fine of three hundred to three thousand quetzales.

Whoever destroys, conceals, or suppresses, in whole or in part, a true document, of the nature of those specified in this chapter, shall be sanctioned with the penalties indicated in the preceding articles, in their respective cases.

Whoever, with intent to evade the action of justice, commits the acts referred to in the preceding paragraph with respect to documents or objects constituting means of evidence, shall incur the same sanction.

The sanctions established for the crimes defined in this chapter shall be increased by one-half when committed for electoral purposes.

The sanction shall be increased by two-thirds if the crime is committed by a magistrate, public official or employee of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, member of a Departmental Electoral Board, Municipal Electoral Board, Vote Receiving Board, public official or employee of the State from any of its bodies or autonomous, decentralized and non-governmental institutions, regardless of their form of election or type of legal labor relationship, and in addition to the penalty, disqualification from the exercise of the public employment or office they hold shall be applied to them.

The sanctions established for the crimes defined in Articles 240, 321, 322 and 325 of this Code shall be increased by one third when they are committed in order to commit the crimes or misdemeanors provided for in Decree Number 95-98 of the Congress of the Republic, Migration Law.

Whoever forges official seals, sealed paper, postage stamps, fiscal stamps, or any other class of sealed or stamped effects whose issuance is reserved to the authority or controlled by it, or whose purpose is the collection of taxes, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of two to six years.

The same sanction shall apply to whoever, knowingly, introduces them into the territory of the Republic, distributes or uses them.

Whoever counterfeits tickets of duly authorized lotteries, or alters genuine tickets, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of two to six years.

The same sanction shall apply to whoever, knowingly, introduces them into the territory of the Republic, sells or uses them.

Whoever falsifies license plates or other distinctive marks for vehicles, which the authorities establish for them, or alters the genuine ones, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of one to three years.

The same sanction shall apply to whoever, knowingly, uses falsified or altered license plates or distinctive marks for vehicles.

Whoever falsifies marks, countersigns or signatures officially used to verify weights or measures, identify any object or certify its quality, quantity or content, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of one to four years.

The same sanction shall be imposed on whoever applies legitimate marks or countersigns, for official use, to objects or articles other than those to which they should have been applied.

Whoever removes from any of the seals, stamps, marks or countersigns the sign indicating that it has already served or been used for the purpose of its issuance, or is used again, shall be sanctioned with a fine of two hundred to two thousand quetzales.

The same sanction shall apply to whoever, knowingly, uses, causes to be used or offers for sale the cancelled effects referred to in the preceding paragraph.

Imprisonment of two to ten years shall be imposed in the case of Art. 246 and imprisonment of four to fifteen years in the cases of Art. 251, when the appropriation falls upon:

1)Rare collections and specimens of fauna, flora or minerals, or upon objects of paleontological interest.

2)Property of scientific, cultural, historical or religious value.

3)Antiquities of more than one century old, inscriptions, coins, engravings, revenue or postage stamps of philatelic value.

4)Objects of ethnological interest.

5)Manuscripts, books, documents and old publications with historical or artistic value;

6)Objects of art, pictures, paintings and drawings, original engravings and lithographs, with historical or cultural value.

7)Sound, photographic or cinematographic archives with historical or cultural value.

8)Articles and furnishing objects of more than two hundred years of existence and old musical instruments with historical or cultural value.

The penalty shall be increased by one-third when committed by public officials or public employees or by persons who by reason of their office or function must have the safekeeping or custody of the property protected by this article.

Imprisonment of two to ten years shall be imposed in the case of Article 246 and imprisonment of four to fifteen years in the case of Article 251, when the appropriation falls upon:

1)Products of regular or clandestine archaeological excavations, or of archaeological discoveries.

2)Ornaments or parts of archaeological or historical monuments, paintings, engravings, stelae or any object forming part of the historical or archaeological monument.

3)Pieces or objects of archaeological interest, even if they are found scattered or situated on abandoned lands.

The penalty shall be increased by one third when committed by public officials or public employees or by persons who, by reason of their office or function, must have the safekeeping and custody of the property protected by this article.

Imprisonment of six to fifteen years and a fine of five thousand to ten thousand quetzales shall be imposed on whoever commercializes, exports or in any manner transfers ownership or possession of any of the property referred to in the preceding articles, without State authorization.

The same penalty shall be imposed on whoever purchases or in any manner acquires cultural property obtained by theft or robbery. If the acquisition is carried out through negligence, the penalty shall be reduced by half.

In the case of the crimes defined in this title, the action or the penalty shall be extinguished if voluntarily and without any requirement whatsoever the stolen or trafficked object, or the totality of the stolen or trafficked objects, is delivered to a competent judge, who shall deliver it to the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Whoever manufactures, introduces into the national territory, or retains in his possession a die, seals, marks or other instruments or tools knowingly intended to commit any of the falsifications to which this Title refers, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of six months to two years.

Those who direct or administer a bank or institution who, on the occasion of their functions, authorize the manufacture or issuance of coins with fineness or weight lower than lawful coins, or of bank notes or any bearer titles, certificates or shares, in a quantity greater than that authorized or under conditions different from those prescribed for the case, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of one to six years and disqualification, where applicable, pursuant to Article 56 of this Code for double the time of the sentence.