June 16, 2023, 10:02 PM
June 16, 2023, 10:02 PM
The Vice Minister of the Environment, carmelo valda, and the director of the Coordination Unit and Executor of Programs and Projects of that ministry, Ricardo ABC were summoned to testify, after the Vice Ministry of Transparency, under the Ministry of Justice, requested the extension of the investigation and the apprehension of both. This Friday, both were apprehended after appearing before prosecutors.
“I kindly request that you order the arrest of Ricardo ABC and Carmelo Valda Duarte, whenever the requirements for it are met; that is to say, that there are sufficient indications that they are the perpetrators or participants in the crime of illicit enrichment,” says a 17-page memorandum presented by the Vice Minister of Transparency, Susana Ríos.
On Thursday it was learned that the witness in the case, Claudia Cortez, involved both in the statement he gave on Tuesday and described how they were involved in the collection and receipt of the money requested from the companies that were awarded projects. The vice minister appeared before the media last day and said that he was willing to declare when the Prosecutor’s Office summons him.
That summons was fulfilled this Friday and Valda was summoned to testify in the company of his lawyer, as was Ricardo ABC, who was in charge of the unit that awarded all the projects, in addition there was an in-depth investigation of the amounts he handled at this time.
Between 2020 and 2022, former minister Juan Santos Cruz tendered Bs 454,329,650 in seven projects that were evaluated and defined by the “Unidad Coordinadora del Programa de Agua y Alcantarillado Periurbano – Mmaya-Ucp/Paap”, according to data from the State Contracting System (Sicoes). Ricardo ABC was in charge of this unit, where he held two positions, first as financial administrative coordinator and then as manager of that entity.
As a coordinator, he had a salary of Bs 16,958 and then, when he was promoted to manager, his salary was raised to Bs 17,935. He was linked to that ministry until September 2022 and then joined the National Health Fund in October 2022, where he worked until he was summoned, according to the documents released by Red Uno.
