US EditionBolivian court orders ex-president jailed for 5 months on corruption charges
Luis Arce faces allegations of diverting about $700 million from Indigenous development funds amid a revived corruption probe under Bolivia’s new conservative government.
- Friday's court order kept former President Luis Arce detained for five months pending trial on corruption charges in a virtual hearing two days after his arrest in La Paz, Bolivia.
- Last month, Rodrigo Paz, President of Bolivia, reopened the case after ending nearly two decades of Movement Toward Socialism party rule and campaigned to root out corruption amid the worst economic crisis in four decades.
- According to Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo, investigators say Arce diverted about $700 million from a gas-revenue fund between 2006 and 2017, siphoning money to secure loyalty.
- He was transferred at night to one of La Paz's largest prisons after the hearing; Arce's defence lawyers cited kidney cancer several years ago, but the judge denied release despite a potential sentence up to six years.
- The decision risks deepening political tensions as ministers in Arce's administration condemned the arrest as political persecution and Arce told the judge `I'm a scapegoat`.
85 Articles
85 Articles
A court in Bolivia has ordered former head of state Luis Arce to be detained for five months while he awaits trial on corruption charges.
Five-month preemptive arrest for former Bolivian President Arce
Former Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora has been placed under preemptive arrest at the San Pedro detention facility in La Paz for five months, pending a corruption inquiry regarding the mismanagement of funds intended for indigenous projects when he served as Economy Minister under Evo Morales (2006-2019).
The former president of Bolivia Luis Arce Catacora was admitted on Friday night to San Pedro prison in La Paz, the seat of government. He must serve five months of pre-trial detention for his alleged involvement in the corruption case called “Indigenous Fund”. The justice system in that country considers that there are sufficient indications of authorship and risk of obstruction of the investigation. “We have not left,” Arce exclaimed while he w…
The former leader reportedly authorized, when he was Minister of Economy, transfers of public funds to accounts of peasant leaders for the development of agricultural projects that had not been completed. He denounced accusations on political grounds.
La Paz, Bolivia. - A judge from Bolivia ordered the pre-trial detention of former left-wing president Luis Arce in a La Paz prison for five months, while the prosecution investigates his alleged involvement in a corruption case.The Prosecutor's Office investigates Arce for alleged diversions of public funds through the State Fund for the Development of Originary Peoples (Fondioc), which was closed in 2015 due to irregularities. Arce, a 62-year-o…
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