Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 7 -- The Bolivian government, under pressure from its political opponents, vowed to punish anyone found guilty of corruption at state-owned Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB).
"There is a murder, a robbery, and a process of economic extortion that hurts the Bolivian state," said vice- president Alvaro Garcia Linera, adding: "There is corruption."
"We won't ask the name, friendships, or political affiliation," said Garcia Linera. "The corrupt person will have to go to prison; be who it may, it doesn't matter to us. That is the decision of the president."
The scandal over corruption at YPFP emerged last week with the murder of Jorge O'Connor D'Arlach, head of Catler Uniservice, a firm that last year won an $86 million contract from YPFP for the construction of a natural gas liquid separation plant in Rio Grande.
Murder triggers charges
O'Connor was robbed and killed as he entered the La Paz home of relatives of the wife of YPFB president Santos Ramirez carrying a briefcase containing $450,000.
Bolivia's opposition parties stepped up pressure on the government by suggesting that the money found on O'Connor was a payoff to Ramirez—a friend and political ally of Bolivian President Evo Morales.
Under that pressure, Morales on Jan. 31dismissed Ramirez—who had headed YPFB since last March. Despite his dismissal, Ramirez has denied allegations that he was involved in the murder of O'Conner or the receipt of a bribe.
At the time, Morales said his government would fully investigate the case, saying, "I am not going to forgive people who are diverting economic resources" from YPFB, referring to the $450,000 in cash.
"We already know where it [the money] came from, the question is where it was going," said Morales, who called the case "very strange, very suspicious."
New YPFP head named
Morales immediately replaced Ramirez with former planning minister Carlos Villegas, who has since appointed four executives as the new national operations vice-president, national commercialization director, administration and finance general director, and legal director.
Meanwhile, several investigations of the allegations are underway in the country, including one by the prosecutor investigating O'Connor's murder who is expanding his probe to include the awarding of the YPFB contract to Catler Uniservice.
Bolivia's comptroller general Gabriel Herbas also announced plans to examine the process which led to the signing of the contract between YPFB and Catler Uniservice.
The comptroller's audit will be independent of a third investigation, announced by the transparency and anticorruption deputy minister Nardi Suxo, that is probing alleged irregularities in the contract award process as well as possible links between O'Connor and YPFB.
Earlier this week, the Bolivian government announced plans for Morales to visit Russia where he will formally sign documents enabling state-run OAO Gazprom to invest in his country's oil and gas industry (OGJ Online, Feb. 5, 2009).
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
