Bolivian ex-president Luis Arce was arrested in La Paz on Wednesday as part of an investigation into alleged graft committed when he was an economy minister, the government said.
Arce, 62, did not seek reelection in an August vote that brought an end to two decades of leftist rule in Bolivia, with his presidency marred by critical shortages of fuel and foreign currency that sparked numerous protests.
The corruption probe stems from when Arce was minister of economy under socialist then-president Evo Morales, who was in office from 2006 to 2019.
Arce is accused of authorizing transfers from the public treasury to the personal accounts of political leaders.
At a press conference, Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo hailed Arce’s arrest, calling him “the main person responsible” for the $51 million economic loss.
One alleged beneficiary was leftist former lawmaker Lidia Patty, arrested in the same case last week for allegedly receiving close to $100,000 for a tomato cultivation project.
Sources in the prosecutor’s office told AFP that Arce will have to answer to charges of dereliction of duty and “economic misconduct.”
READ ALSO: Venezuelan Opposition Leader Emerges From Hiding After Winning Nobel
Vice President Edmand Lara vowed Wednesday that “everyone who has stolen from this country will return every last cent.”
Under Bolivian law, members of the outgoing executive branch may not leave the country for 90 days after a change in government.
In his first week in office, which started last month, pro-business conservative President Rodrigo Paz claimed to have unearthed “a cesspool” of graft by preceding leftist governments.
As an audit is done of public enterprises, prosecutors this week arrested six former executives of the state oil company YPFB on corruption charges.
A former colleague, Maria Nela Prada, said Arce was alone when he was detained in the capital and taken to a police office in a minibus with black-tinted windows.
She added the arrest had been a surprise, and Arce had “not received any kind of notification.”
In his first week in office last month, Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz said he had found “a cesspool of extraordinary dimensions” due to alleged mismanagement by the socialist government preceding him.
Paz announced audits of public companies, and this week, the prosecutor’s office charged six former executives of the state oil company YPFB with corruption.
AFP
