• They paid $ 30,000 for each one, when its factory price was $ U $ 8,000
La Paz, The Reason
The lawyer and former official of the Ministry of Health Jorge Sánchez was apprehended this Wednesday in the framework of the investigation for the complaint of overpricing in the purchase of Chinese respirators. He was an official in the management of former minister Eidy Roca (2020), one of the main defendants in this process.
The prosecutor Marco Villa reported that the defendant issued technical-legal reports that led to the purchase of Chinese respirators in the government of Jeanine Áñez (2019-2020), for which he was accused of the crimes of breach of duties, conduct uneconomic and harmful contracts to the State.
“He was a former official of the Legal Unit, we have been able to establish, among other aspects, the signing of legal reports emerging from two amendments that led to the acquisition of respirators,” he explained.
According to the investigations, there was a surcharge of US $ 6 million in the acquisition via intermediaries of 324 Chinese respirators. Each of the equipment had a cost of US $ 30,000 when the factory cost was US $ 8,000.
A total of 18 people among former ministers, former vice ministers and former officials are investigated. Three defendants are in preventive detention, Villa reported.
The purchased equipment has technical problems and is not used. Another investigation is also underway for the over-price complaint in another batch of respirators, this time Spanish.
The apprehended lawyer will be submitted to a precautionary hearing, where it will be determined whether he defends himself in freedom or from jail. At the moment he is in police cells.
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