In Guatemala, there is talk of "the story of the magic carpet" - a bribe that sounded so incredible that prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval at first did not think it was true. 

See the report:

Dirty steel - SVT Play

According to history, a private plane landed in Guatemala City on April 27 last year.

Several of the passengers had Russian passports and represented the mining company Mayaniquel.

They checked into a luxury hotel and according to the prosecutor's witnesses, they then left the hotel with a special gift - a rolled-up rug with a large amount of cash. 

The gift was dedicated to Guatemala's perhaps most powerful man: President Alejandro Giammattei. 

Flees for his life 

When Juan Francisco Sandoval started digging in the case, he stepped on mined land.

The story of the magic carpet became the last bribery he investigated as a prosecutor in one of the world's most corrupt and criminal countries.  

He was fired and the death threats came in one by one.

At the end of July last year, Juan Francisco Sandoval decided to flee.

He turned to the Swedish embassy for help and was smuggled in by Hans Magnusson, Sweden's ambassador to Guatemala.  

- If I had stayed in Guatemala, my body would certainly have ended up in the cemetery, says Juan Francisco Sandoval, whose dismissal provoked international criticism and led to extensive protests in Guatemala. 

Mayaniquel suspected of being behind the suspected bribe delivers raw materials to a nickel factory on Lake Izabal in Guatemala.

The same nickel that ends up in products sold by large companies to Swedish households. 

Read more:

Environmental scandal behind household products in Swedish homes

Hans Magnusson, Sweden's ambassador to Guatemala, has promised the Guatemalan authorities not to talk about the incident and declines an interview with Assignment Review. 

The mining company Mayaniquel denies that they tried to bribe the president and welcomes an investigation into the incident.