May 24, 2023, 4:00 AM
May 24, 2023, 4:00 AM
Doubts about the death of the protected witness in the ABC case, the admission of an official about changes in the proposal of the Chinese company Chec, the falsification of a power of attorney, photographs of a meeting, the appearance of the alleged bribery and other indications question why the Chuquisaca Prosecutor’s Office decided to close the case of alleged payment of bribes to officials of the Bolivian Highway Administration (ABC) for the award of the Sucre-Yamparáez highway.
some politicians They called the decision an “insult to the intelligence” and the Ministry of Justice has not yet ruled.
“This is how the ‘injustice market’ works. The Prosecutor’s Office should respond: Didn’t they change roles in a hotel? Why did the protected witness die? How did Bs 9 million appear? Are the advances paid to individuals? There is more evidence of an act of corruption than elements for a dismissal. This is how the ‘injustice market in Bolivia’ works,” wrote the masista and former manager of Mi Teleférico, César Dockweiler.
Samuel Doria Medina, politician and businessman, questioned the dismissal of the case after the protected witness died in the US “in suspicious circumstances.”
The complainant deputy Héctor Arce, of the MAS, also argued that there are many questions about the death of Felipe Sandy Riverowho died in January of this year in an alleged traffic accident in Miami, reported the Minister of Justice, Iván Lima.
The case called “bribery” of the ABC was known in August of last year and from this case others emerged for legitimization of profits and extortion.
1. Change in proposal
The first indication cited by Deputy Arce refers to the informative statement of Juan Carlos Hidalgo Chura, a member of the company rating commission, who admitted that there was a change to at least two sheets of the proposal of the company China Harbor Engineering (Chec).
“On January 6, 2022, Mr. William Mamani calls me in the morning from an unknown cell phone so that we can meet at the Bolivia residence. I told him that there was an error on two pages in the proposal, nothing more, and I withdrew. Before leaving I told him that, If those two sheets of the proposal do not change, the company would not win. So, they left the two sheets in a sealed envelope and, in the afternoon, I pick it up and take it to the qualification commission to be able to sign it and have it ready in the qualification commission report and pass it on to the RPC with the consent of all the commission,” says the statement by Hidalgo, who claimed to have been pressured by former administrative manager William Mamani.
About, prosecutor Fernando Aragón did not mention Hidalgo’s statement and said that this is the version of the protected witness. “The substitution of sheets could not be corroborated and the forensic audit has determined that there were no irregularities,” she said.
2. Meeting at the hotel
Another element of doubt is the photograph that shows a meeting between the Chinese businessman Jin Zhengyuan with members of the qualification commission for the award of the Sucre-Yamparáez double track in a hotel in Sucre, Chuquisaca. “Was it a chance meeting? Were they falling in love?”, questioned the deputy Héctor Arce and regretted that this photograph is not considered as proof of the moment in which the documents were changed.
3. Substitution of a power of attorney
The third test is the substitution of a power of the Chec company.
Arce said that when Jin showed up to sign the double-track construction contract, he was told that he could not sign the document “because the power he had is simply representation.”
Minister Iván Lima even pointed out, in October 2022, that “We have determined that the complaints that have been made are real. It has been established that at least one falsified power of attorney was inserted in the contracting process and this has been confirmed by reports from Dirnoplu,” he said in an interview with the program ¡Qué Semana! of THE DUTY Radio.
Months later, on March 21, 2023, he said that the complaint of the Ministry of Justice was subject to this test and not to the alleged bribery which had already been returned. “There is a certain possibility that it will be determined that ABC officials introduced at least one notarial document. ABC officials failed to exercise due diligence.”
Prosecutor Aragón said that the first power of attorney was valid and maintained that Jin was authorized to sign the contract.
4. Purchase of invoices
The report by prosecutor Pamela Portocarrero indicates that invoices were issued by a company “front” of the accused Esteban Aguilar Suxo in favor of the Chinese company. The former manager and Aguilar they made a deal to allegedly legitimize” the money.
Between February 25 and July 11, 2022, when the NIT of said company was inactive, the syndicate issued invoices for a total of Bs 14,074,212.80, “the destination and use of which are unknown to date ” since the company does not have machinery.
The Vice Ministry of Transparency initiated a complaint in La Paz against Aguilar and there is already a formal accusation. The Prosecutor’s Office asks for eight years in prison.
5. Money appears
On March 21, the Bs 9 million appear in Sucre, which coincide with half of the money that would have been delivered to ABC officials for Chec to benefit from the award of the construction of the double track.
“We had denounced that the bribe for favoring this company was Bs 18 million, the agreement was to pay 50% in advance and what a coincidence that it is found and the amounts coincide. That’s where the money is.”
Following a high-level meeting between the government and Chec, the company determined that its manager Zhengyuan acted improperly. However, They were not only Bs 9 million, but Bs 14 million for which they must be accountable.
The Prosecutor’s Office determined that the money was the advance that Che obtainedcy that after appearing was used to pay for services in favor of the double track.
6. Jin changes version
After the money was handed over and the death of the protected witness was revealed, Mr. Jin testified from the San Pedro jail and accused Felipe Sandy of extortion. The Bs 9 million were supposedly for him. Minister Lima since September 2022 expressed his doubts about Sandy and considered that he was not a witness, but rather the author.
In the video that Sandy left, he stated that on September 16, 2022, the Minister of Justice, in a press conference, accused him of not having received the “part of the corruption cake that it was being distributed”, but later on October 14 he contradicted himself because he assured that the bribe had not been paid to ABC and that “miraculously the Chinese made the money appear. In a tweet, the former president and head of the MAS, Evo Morales, wrote: “Please, do not insult the intelligence of the Bolivian people.”
7. Lima and its conferences
Since the beginning of the investigations, Minister Iván Lima was the one who took command of the statements before the press about the ABC bribery case. On October 15, 2022, he indicated that the investigation carried out by his Ministry was carried out in coordination with the ASFI and Taxes “to see if those Bs 18 million that were reported had been received by public officials, were indeed delivered to an official of the ABC and were He had to verify at Banco Bisa who had collected that money.”
Of course, on March 21 of this year when the Bs 8.9 million were found, he said that “it is not usual and we are going to have sufficient procedural doubt.”
8. History of bribery
According to an investigation by Infobae, in In countries like Bolivia, Argentina and Venezuela, Chinese companies have been cited in numerous bribery cases. and kickbacks that have enriched local officials in exchange for contracts and access to investment.
