According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the former Minister of Justice, Mauricio Ramírez Landaverde, and other former officials have diverted up to $ 14 million from penitentiary stores.
Former Minister of Justice and Security and former Director of Police, Mauricio Ramírez Landaverde was arrested by order of the Attorney General’s Office accusing him of embezzlement and arbitrary acts.
“We have issued an arrest warrant against former Justice Minister Mauricio Ramírez Landaverde, accused of arbitrary acts, embezzlement, improper bribery and ideological falsehood,” Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado wrote on his Twitter account.
YOU CAN READ: Penitentiary stores generated $ 14 million a year for the benefit of an NGO created by a former security minister, according to the complaint
In June last year, the then Minister of Security, Rogelio Rivas, denounced alleged irregularities in the administration of the 347 shops that operate in prisons. This administration was in charge of the association Jo Canvi (Asocambio), which was founded in 2018 by Ramírez Landaverde.
Security authorities said that Asocambio raised about $ 14 million in one year, but that this money did not enter the coffers of the state, but went directly to this association.
Along with Ramírez Landaverde, seven other ex-officials were captured who were directly linked to the Ministry of Justice or the General Directorate of Penitentiary Centers.
Among the detainees are Marc Tulio Lima, former director general of Penitentiary Centers; Raúl Antonio López, former Deputy Minister of Justice; Ramon Ferran Roc, former interim director of Penitentiary Centers; José Roberto Nóchez, former legal director of the Ministry of Justice and; Sergio Ernesto Noies, former Deputy Legal Director of the Ministry of Justice.
According to the tax attorney general, Rodolfo Delgado, he stated that the basis of the accusation against the detained ex-officials is that they diverted the funds from the penitentiary stores and that, in addition, they made direct purchases without applying the Law of Procurement and Contracting of the Public Administration (LACAP) when they were in charge of Asocambio. In these stores “a large flow of capital was handled,” Prim notes.
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In addition, he argues that the misappropriation of funds occurred since the foundation began work in 2018 and also ensures that checks of up to $ 3 thousand were issued from these funds in the form of bonds to former public officials who they acted as part of the Asocambio directive. “These funds were used with dark interest,” the tax prosecutor says.
For his part, the director of the National Civil Police, Mauricio Arriaza Noies, confirmed that the arrest procedure was carried out this afternoon after the police institution received at least 10 arrest warrants against the former officials, of whom ” several work for the police, “the PNC headline said.
Delgado also stressed that the investigation that determined these catches began to take place in 2019, and investigated the period of time in which Asob operated, ie between August 2018 and September 2019, during the administration of Ramírez Landaverde at the head of the Ministry of Justice.
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