The investigation for the Botrading Case continues to generate tensions. While Justice declared in reserve the process and the Prosecutor’s Office executed two records on Thursday In YPFB Refining and YPFB Logistics offices, complainant Ludwig Abraham Sánchez warned about manipulation and disappearance attempts of key documentation, even pointing to senior officials as part of an alleged cover -up network.
According to Sánchez, in recent days Internal movements would have been made in YPFB offices with the objective of “makeup and make documents disappear” related to the purchase of overpricing fuels through the Botrading company.
“Today we are making a press conference to warn the Bolivian people that we have reliable information: yesterday and all these days have been in YPFB refining and corporation trying to manipulate and disappear documentation. That is why we demand that the prosecution Allane today, not tomorrow or past, the offices of YPFB refining, logistics and corporation in Santa Cruz, ”said Sánchez. Parallel to this conference, the Prosecutor’s Office registered the offices of the state -owned oil company.
The complainant also accused Joel Callaú, director of the National Hydrocarbons Agency, of being involved in the case and traveling to Paraguay to allegedly favor the disappearance of evidence. “Callaú spent five days in Paraguay when the official event lasted two. He is putting on documents related to Botrading. We also demand the intervention of the ANH”He claimed.
Sanchez said the Prosecutor’s Office had scheduled raids for August, But that these were postponed with excuses, which, in their opinion, reflects institutional complicity. “If today the researchers put excuses again not to pave, it means that there is cover -up,” he warned. He also asked the press of Cruceña to accompany the operations in vigil to prevent evidence from disappearing.
The duty looked for YPFB’s spokesmen and lawyers to know its version. At first they opted for silence and then announced a press conference in which they would explain their position.
Research under reserve
The lawyer of the complainant, Curmi Rocha, explained that the case It was declared in reserve six days agoafter the hearing of the former manager of YPFB Logistics, Félix Cruz, who remains with preventive detention in San Pedro. Rocha questioned the lack of transparency.
“Comment that the case has entered into reserve six days ago, we are waiting for that condition to leave. The prosecutor would be hiding the issue of the requirements and notifications. When we go to office tells us that the process will be in sight the following week, but we cannot see what performances are being developed. What we want to know is what concrete activity the prosecutor does because it is not clear,” he said.
The lawyer also denounced that the complainant It has no access to the documents that are being presented. “They are hiding the statements. According to the investigations notebook, the Prosecutor’s Office requested that the immigration alert against the ten investigated be issued, in addition to the preventive annotation of movable and immovable property and the freezing of bank accounts,” Rocha explained.
The defense of the complainant also recalled that there is still Execute the raids to all YPFB officeswhich were scheduled for August.
For its part, the defense of Félix Cruz, represented by Edwin Lenishe insisted on the innocence of his defendant And he regretted the determination of justice, which ratified the preventive detention in jail.
“The preventive detention resolution has been confirmed. Felix is innocent, did not participate in the events They attribute him because he was not a state YPFB official, but of a private company, ”he said.
The lawyer also questioned one of the arguments used by the Prosecutor’s Office. “They say that the Chamber of Deputies did not attend a statement, when that notification never came in person or formally. From there They argue that I had knowledge of the Botrading Case. It is a tangle what they have raised, ”he said.
The Botrading Case involves alleged millionaire irregularities in the purchase of fuels and the formation of a parallel private company linked to YPFB officials. According to Sánchez, it would be the “largest cost over the history of the country, with an estimated damage to 3,000 million dollars annually.”
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor’s Office assured that will continue with citations, expansion of investigations and new measures citations in the coming weeks.
