May 17, 2023, 4:00 AM
May 17, 2023, 4:00 AM
The former Minister of the Environment and Water, Juan Santos Cruz, is being apprehended in police cells of the Special Force to Fight Crime (Felcc) of La Paz for the crime of illicit enrichment. The Prosecutor’s Office will issue the formal accusation and it is still unknown if it will request preventive detention. Meanwhile, the Vice Ministry of Transparency revealed that the two detainees for the “bribery” case they made “unusual” bank movements of Bs 2.7 million and also bought 11 properties In less than three months, Santos’s nephew acquired five items in a single day.
“At 08:30 a spontaneous presentation memorial was received by Mr. Juan Santos Cruz. In this framework, it has been arranged for him to give his statement at 10:30. The statement has been completed and a decision and an arrest warrant have been issued against him. The Public Prosecutor’s Office will present a formal accusation within the corresponding deadlines”, informed the prosecutor Freddy Alborta, after Santos left accompanied by the Prosecutor’s Office with police protection.
Former Minister Juan Santos was to appear to testify in the bribery case this Wednesday, May 17 at 09:00. However, advanced his appearance and appeared at the La Paz Departmental Prosecutor’s Office spontaneously one day before and in the company of his lawyer. He testified for five hours and around 3:30 p.m. he was transferred to the Felcc.
An hour later, the ex-functionaries and collaborators of Santos were removed from the police stations to comply with the order of a judge who ordered six months of preventive detention for Jhonny ASS in the San Pedro jail and for Rosa Viviana B. in the Miraflores prison.
The three investigated avoided making statements to the press. It is even known that Viviana and Johnny, who were summoned to testify the previous week, they preferred to remain silent before the prosecutor of the case.
The “corruption network”, as described by the journalist Andrés Gómez and investigator of the case, involves at least eight people, including family members and officials who operated in the alleged corruption. There are 10 bank accounts in which the deposits of the “bribes” and cash deliveries were made on the 18th floor of the Casa Grande del Pueblo, according to the complaint by the collector Claudia C. who gave interviews to two media outlets .
The Vice Minister of Transparency, Susana Ríos, said that there would be another 50 more bank accounts and that the investigations were carried out since the beginning of this year due to information that circulated on social networks and later because Claudia C. arrived at the offices of the Ministry of Justice.
“There is a series of information that (a) bank report has reported to us; initially we have the presence of 10 accounts, where there are some operations probably linked to this type of situation, but about 50 other accounts have also been identified. So, it is an investigation that is quite complex because there are many banking operations that must be verified”, he pointed out.
Ríos explained that the vice-ministry under his charge made the inquiries verifying the records of assets, vehicles, affidavits and even some people’s gasoline use.
In mid-February and as Claudia C. also revealed, Ríos had received “imprecise information” from the woman who denounced the irregularities in the Ministry of Environment and who does not appear registered as an official in the system of the General Comptroller of the State, but who did do the “negotiations” for the former minister.
The vice minister clarified that the information and documentation of the bribery case began to be generated as of March 15 and it was from April 15 that the “in situ” verifications were made of all the land acquired, a refrigerator in Cobija, visits to notaries, etc. “A certification of all these operations has been requested,” he assured.
When asked why Transparency did not file a complaint against the then minister Juan Santos, he pointed out that the complaint was based on “objective information” they obtained up to May 10that is, “unusual” movement documents made by officials Jhonny ASS and Rosa Viviana B.
Regarding the criticism against President Luis Arce, who did not dismiss his minister, Vice Minister Ríos and her Communications partner, Gabriela Alcón, clarified that the Head of State requested the resignation of Juan Santos so that he can defend himself as a natural person and that the investigations are in the preliminary stage at the request of the Vice Ministry of Transparency.
The main detainees, Jhonny ASS and Rosa Viviana B., made unusual movements. The first bought five properties in a single day and the second bought six properties. Regarding bank deposits, between them they add up to Bs 2.7 million.
“Johnny Santos would have acquired five properties in a single dayIn addition, he registered unusual movements in his bank account of up to Bs 1,200,000; while Viviana, in a period of three months, bought six properties and had an unusual movement of Bs 1,500,000. This was the first objective information that has allowed us to immediately file the complaint”, explained Vice Minister Ríos.
According to Jhonny S.’s affidavit as of April 3 of this year, It has six properties and income of Bs 16,900. Figure as a worker of the National Agricultural Health and Food Safety Service (Senasag).
On the other hand, Viviana B. did not declare real estate and records Bs 7,000 as assets, says the public document on June 7, 2022.
In the complaint made by Transparency, police officers, officials and individuals appear as depositors in the accounts of Jhonny and Viviana. In the case of Santos’ nephew, Jesibet OC is mentioned, who made deposits of Bs 17,500 in 2021 and another of Bs 30,000 in 2022. Within the list of officials are Isaac TA who deposited Bs 34,800; Fanny TO with Bs 25,000; Mercedes SG with Bs 15,800; Kenny QH with Bs 6,000 and María FQ with Bs 3,200.
Among the police officers are Ángel CA who deposited Bs 30,000 and Daniel AS who paid Bs 3,835. Johnny Santos he would have made two deposits of Bs 50,000 to Fernando LTJ, and the second of Bs 5,000 to Juan Santos.
Ríos asked that Claudia C., complainant and right-hand man of former minister Santos, be summoned to testify. He lawyer Ricardo Rodríguez, who exercises social control in the casedemanded that guarantees be given to the woman who received death threats.
Claudia C. revealed that she raised more than Bs 20 million in bribes and that there would be at least 30 properties purchased. He mentioned that there are houses in the name of Fernando T., brother-in-law of Santos and two other nephews of the former minister.
Even Viviana B. would have bought two properties from a former mayor of Bolpebra and two relatives of the senator and former governor, Luis Adolfo Flores.
