Through a letter sent to Iván LimaMinister of Justice and Institutional Transparency, the Bolivian Automotive Chamber (CAB) urged the authority to act against the importer involved in the case ambulances in Potosí.
“Proceed against this importer, clearly fraudulent, investigating all those involved in this tragic event with economic damage to the State, but more than anything for all the corruption circuit generated and that also investigate companies that proceed in a similar way for many yearsprofiting to the detriment of the State, evading import taxes and sales taxes, through the procedures described,” they indicate.
Likewise, they question the misuse of institutions such as the Free Trade Zones, Ibmetro and the Vice Ministry of Transportation (as far as they are concerned), created to generate jobs and facilitate controls that have been consecutively and tenaciously circumvented.
The ambulance case involves tohe Governor of Potosí, Jhonny Mamani, who annulled the acquisition of 41 ambulances and then announced the execution of a guarantee bond for Bs 1.5 million that the firm Estefals Logistics put in to qualify as a contractor.
The amount of the purchase was Bs 20.5 million for the 41 units; but the supplier company, Estefals Logistics was created by Luis Humberto Huanca, on September 9, 2021, a few days before the Government launches the direct invitation to vehicle importing companies. The capital of the company was Bs 100,000 and it was going to do a business of more than Bs 20 million.
The CAB maintains that the award of this company is a clear sign of corrupt management to the detriment of State resources.which could have been avoided by resorting to a formal tender where, with all certainty, a legally constituted concessionaire would have been awarded, with the necessary seniority that refers to the tradition, security and support of the brands that the regulations in force in the country require, so as not to expose the State or the consumer user to the lack of factory warranty and genuine parts, fraudulent acts, money laundering, among others.
“This mode of import sui generis that, on repeated occasions, we have denounced different authorities of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, (with no result or response), for the economic damage they cause to the Statethrough procedures framed in acts of corruption and on many occasions, with the purpose of laundering money of dubious origin that on this occasion, have an exemplary model, such as the irregular purchase of 41 ambulances through a tender riddled with defects and possible fraud, for the Government of Potosí”, says another part of the CAB.
For the institution, the consequences of working with a one-person company, without tradition or factory support, informally constituted, specifically to adapt it and direct it to personal interests to benefit from a tender, they involve the authorities and officials of the Potosí Government who must clearly be implicated in the premeditated damage to the State.
This type of sole proprietorship, known in the local environment, for these procedures as “grey importers”according to the CAB, are created for importing vehicles without having the representation or support of the manufacturer.
In addition, they quote and pay taxes to the State, through reissue invoices for amounts less than the real ones constituted by the logistics value chain.; and evade essential requirements for the Prior Import License, through the figure of unnecessary “reconditioning” in new vehicles, misusing the export processing zones for their fraudulent regulatory evasion procedures, providing economic ‘qualifications’ to bad public officials and brokers ( corruption).
Through a letter sent to Iván LimaMinister of Justice and Institutional Transparency, the Bolivian Automotive Chamber (CAB) urged the authority to act against the importer involved in the case ambulances in Potosí.
“Proceed against this importer, clearly fraudulent, investigating all those involved in this tragic event with economic damage to the State, but more than anything for all the corruption circuit generated and that also investigate companies that proceed in a similar way for many yearsprofiting to the detriment of the State, evading import taxes and sales taxes, through the procedures described,” they indicate.
Likewise, they question the misuse of institutions such as the Free Trade Zones, Ibmetro and the Vice Ministry of Transportation (as far as they are concerned), created to generate jobs and facilitate controls that have been consecutively and tenaciously circumvented.
The ambulance case involves tohe Governor of Potosí, Jhonny Mamani, who annulled the acquisition of 41 ambulances and then announced the execution of a guarantee bond for Bs 1.5 million that the firm Estefals Logistics put in to qualify as a contractor.
The amount of the purchase was Bs 20.5 million for the 41 units; but the supplier company, Estefals Logistics was created by Luis Humberto Huanca, on September 9, 2021, a few days before the Government launches the direct invitation to vehicle importing companies. The capital of the company was Bs 100,000 and it was going to do a business of more than Bs 20 million.
The CAB maintains that the award of this company is a clear sign of corrupt management to the detriment of State resources.which could have been avoided by resorting to a formal tender where, with all certainty, a legally constituted concessionaire would have been awarded, with the necessary seniority that refers to the tradition, security and support of the brands that the regulations in force in the country require, so as not to expose the State or the consumer user to the lack of factory warranty and genuine parts, fraudulent acts, money laundering, among others.
“This mode of import sui generis that, on repeated occasions, we have denounced different authorities of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, (with no result or response), for the economic damage they cause to the Statethrough procedures framed in acts of corruption and on many occasions, with the purpose of laundering money of dubious origin that on this occasion, have an exemplary model, such as the irregular purchase of 41 ambulances through a tender riddled with defects and possible fraud, for the Government of Potosí”, says another part of the CAB.
For the institution, the consequences of working with a one-person company, without tradition or factory support, informally constituted, specifically to adapt it and direct it to personal interests to benefit from a tender, they involve the authorities and officials of the Potosi Government who must clearly be implicated in the premeditated damage to the State.
This type of sole proprietorship, known in the local environment, for these procedures as “grey importers”according to the CAB, are created for importing vehicles without having the representation or support of the manufacturer.
In addition, they quote and pay taxes to the State, through reissue invoices for amounts less than the real ones constituted by the logistics value chain.; and evade essential requirements for the Prior Import License, through the figure of unnecessary “reconditioning” in new vehicles, misusing the export processing zones for their fraudulent regulatory evasion procedures, providing economic ‘qualifications’ to bad public officials and brokers ( corruption).
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