Prosecutors Rodrigo Estigarribia, Liliana Alcaraz and Francisco Cabrera, of the Specialized Unit for Economic Crimes and Anticorruption (UDEA), charged Karina Elizabeth Mazacotte, an official of the Department of Internal Control of the Central Government, with breach of trust, criminal association and false statement. .
The report from the Public Ministry mentions that between the months of August 2020 and May 2021, Karina Elizabeth Mazacotte would have commissioned Modesta Valiente Escobar to pay some officials “by transfer” and request them to issue their invoices in the name of the Centro Foundation. Comprehensive Professional Support, as well as other NGOs with which the Central Government operated.
These invoices would later have been used to justify the disbursements of funds for economic reactivation due to the health emergency declared by law, made by the Government of the Central Department in favor of the Integral Center Foundation.
The Prosecutor’s Office ordered the arrest of the woman, as a precautionary measure. The Internal Control Department reports to the Administration and Finance Department. The owner of this address is Javier Rojas, who is also charged and under house arrest.
CONTEXT
In November, Rodrigo Estigarribia, Prosecutor of the Specialized Unit for Economic Crimes, charged Hugo Javier González and 14 other people with the alleged embezzlement of G. 5,105 million that the government should allocate to mitigate the pandemic.
However, in December he was “shielded” in the Chamber of Deputies when his request for interpellation was analyzed.
In mid-December, with 42 votes against, 31 votes in favor and seven absent, the Chamber of Deputies rejected the request for intervention by the Government of the Central Department, administered by González.
The argument of the block of Colorado legislators was that after the on-site verification, they verified that the works carried out with the emergency resources do exist. Considering that one of the arguments was precisely that they were “ghost” works.
With this, the possibility of an external auditor managing the government for three months and investigating, at the same time, if the existing documentation coincides with the executed works, was left without effect.
UPDATES OF THE CASE
On February 4, Hugo Javier González appeared for his preliminary statement. On the occasion, his lawyer mentioned to the communicators present that there were never payments for phantom works, nor false invoicing or double invoicing.
“Everything is documented, let’s not make this something media. I am not prohibited from approaching the Governor’s Office, I continue to work there and I will do so until the last day I am governor,” said Andrés Casati.
