2023-05-29 16:30:02
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — More than 4,000 employees of a failed Bolivian bank will be unable to collect their unpaid wages on Monday as doubts grow over the death of the government-appointed financial controller, who died following falling from the 15th floor of a building. in the city of Santa Cruz.
“This Monday there is definitely no payment until another controller is named,” said the director of the Financial System Authority (ASFI), Reynaldo Yujra. “The workers have decided to wait another 48 hours for the payment of our salaries,” declared the delegate Juanita Vaca.
Banco Fassil was intervened by the government at the end of last month when it fell into insolvency following a massive withdrawal of money by its clients. Carlos Alberto Colodro was appointed ASFI controller with the mission of liquidating the entity, but the official was found dead on Saturday. The Minister of Government himself, Eduardo del Castillo, said the day before at a press conference that “we cannot rule out anything, all the hypotheses are valid” regarding whether it was a suicide or a homicide.
After the government intervention, complaints of alleged millionaire loans to insolvent people and alleged financial ties to powerful real estate groups in Santa Cruz came to light.
Four former Fassil executives are under investigation and have been sent to pretrial detention. The bankruptcy of the bank takes place in the midst of a climate of economic uncertainty and political polarization, as well as allegations of corruption that hit the administration of President Luis Arce.
Two weeks ago, the Minister of Environment and Water resigned and was sent to prison accused of collecting bribes from construction companies in exchange for assigning them public works.
Colodro’s death has had political repercussions. Former President Evo Morales (2006-2019), head of the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) and who maintains a strong dispute with Arce, called on his Twitter account for “an independent and transparent investigation.” “The relationship between the death of the controller and the alleged transactions and money laundering must be clarified,” he said.
For his part, former President Carlos Mesa (2003-2005), the main opposition leader, said on Twitter on Monday that Colodro’s death “generates many doubts and warnings that must be clarified.”
In turn, Arce pointed out on the same social network that “a prompt investigation is urgent to clarify the causes of this event.”
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