The United Nations' anti-corruption commission in Guatemala says the government has removed 11 police investigators working with the panel to uncover graft.

Commission head Ivan Velasquez said the aim of their removal was "to affect the investigations" that have netted high-ranking politicians and their relatives.

Government spokesman Fernando Lucero told Guatemalan newspaper El Periodico on Tuesday the investigators had been re-assigned to help with security during the week before Easter.

The U.N. panel and local prosecutors are popular among Guatemalans for taking on corruption and bringing down former President Otto Perez Molina.

The commission has also investigated President Jimmy Morales for illegal campaign financing. Morales tried to expel Velasquez in August, but the country's top court blocked that order.