May 11, 2023, 4:00 AM
May 11, 2023, 4:00 AM
Of the media denunciations of the ex-ministers of Juan Evo MoralesCarlos Romero and Teresa Morales, went on to a formal presentation before the State Attorney General’s Office (Sucre) in which it is requested to investigate Armin Dorgathen, President of Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), for alleged acts of corruption and economic damage to the countryin the process of importing gasoline and diesel.
Since the beginning of March, Romero made different complaints about alleged irregular facts in the state oil company at the time of making the import of liquid fuel. With the aim of reinforcing their denunciations, the ex-authorities offered a press conference in the Legislative Assembly delivering documents to the ‘evista’ deputies who promised to take the respective steps to give effect to said resignations.
Finding no answers, Romero and Morales came to Sucre and they demanded from Juan Lanchipa, State Attorney Generalgive effect to the complaint for which they presented a memorial in which Dorgathen is accused of “a millionaire made of corruption in the purchase of overpriced fuels, above the demand that the country has”, a situation that in the opinion of the complainants are signs that the fuel extra was intended to supply the fuel smuggling.
Aware of the complaint made in Sucre, Dorgathen specified that the state oil company carries out icheaper imports than the miners “In addition, there, in prices, you can see the effect of the war, which not only affects YPFB, but also anyone who buys diesel”, said the president of Yacimientos.
Regarding the alleged cases of corruption of which he is accused, Dorgathen reiterated that YPFB is working with total transparency “for the good of Bolivians.” In time to point out that the work he does from the state oil company is focused on a real import substitution of diesel with biodiesel plants that are already under construction, such as the plants in Palmasola (Santa Cruz), such as the one in Senkata (El Alto).
“We are working on a renewable diesel HBO plant with which we are going to achieve a significant reduction in the amounts of diesel imports. It is working with positive results in Yope for the crude oil production. Work is being done to minimize the cost of the fuel subsidy”, stressed Dorgathen.
The authority pointed out that all this work aims to keep grant of hydrocarbons, but that their import is to the lower costs possible and noted that the complaints made against him are “more than one political attack than a technical observation, because clearly the data is not handled adequately”.
“We are showing that we import cheaper than the mining companies. We will respond to the complaint in due course, with all the information we have and with all the Transparency before the Prosecutor’s Office. We have no problem in doing so,” stressed the president of the state oil company.
Romero indicated that the complaint is against Dorgathen and against, once the investigations begin, they will be responsible, material in intellectuals, “for this stabbing of the national economy.”
In turn, former Minister Morales denounced overprices by more than $3,000 million, through the fuel importer Trafigura. He pointed out that the gold that will be sold with the latest law, recently approved, seeks to obtain $us 1,100 million, so according to his consideration this rule was not necessary if the $us 3,000 million had been destined to strengthen the economy and “not to the excessive fuel imports that only benefits a few”.
“We, with the contracts and the documentation, are demonstrating that in 2022 the importation of diesel and gasoline and that since 2021 commissions to brokers have already skyrocketed, and that explains that last year more than 4,000 million dollars have been spent on fuel imports,” denounced Romero, who defined this purchase as having a “grotesque markup and one about grotesque importation”.
On the subject, the operational specialist of YPFB, Ariel Montaño, reported that the state oil company generated savings of $us 17 million in the importation of crude oil, for which he described as “false” complaints of alleged overpricing.
Montaño indicated that as of today the savings that have been generated are already something tangible, since they add up to approximately $17 million in crude oil imports. Surely, he affirmed that in the second semester he will report how much the total savings for the logistic modification.
The technician of YPFB pointed out that Yacimientos registered “significantly” lower costs in the importation of fuels on the western side, for which reason it proceeded to all the logistical adaptations to increase the volumes to be imported from that geographical point.
“This is going to generate savings of approximately $800,000 a day, it is a reality and it has already been done. A strong proof is that between the months of January and February the product or the diesel value and international gasoline has increased; however, our average import costs have reduced”, he insisted.
In this context, he described as “false” the statements of former Minister Romero in the sense that YPFB “imported diesel at a premium.”
“We have come to Sucre to deliver the lawsuit accusing the president of YPFB for the crimes in a megacorruption in the excessive importation of fuel, gasoline and diesel that is not justified, the payment of prizes to a company fired by several countries, for paying bribes to Pemex of Mexico, Petrobras of Brazil and PetroEcuador of Ecuador”, pointed out Morales.
He denounced that for 15 months other companies, such as San Cristóbal and Maquiri, imported diesel at a lower price, since YPFB did paying 30% more.
In that operation alone, Morales said that they imported $700 million more than the overprice, in time to specify that the complaint is the result of a year of investigation and consultations with other countries on the importation of fuels.
Meanwhile, Romero explained that 90% of YPFB’s import contracts are with Trafigura, a company that was part of the investigations of Lava Jato in Brazil and the FBI, in time to recall that an investigation by the American Global Business, which monitors the behavior of oil companies in the world, established that trafigura incurs the payment of megacoims in different countries.
He also detailed that trafigura has in its hands nine out of 10 contracts that Bolivia makes in the hydrocarbon field, but it incurs megacoims at officials hierarchical from different countries and deposits these bribes in tax havens.
