Bolivia summons Indigenous Justice vice minister in Cerimedo investigation

Bolivia’s anti-corruption prosecutors have summoned Jorge Franz García Pinto, the country’s vice minister for Indigenous Justice, to testify in an illicit-enrichment investigation involving Argentine political strategist Fernando Cerimedo.

The summons, issued in La Paz on Sept. 3, requires García Pinto to appear at noon on Monday, Sept. 7, in Office 409 of the La Paz departmental prosecutor’s building. The case is registered under file No. 201102012605615 and concerns the offense of illicit enrichment by private individuals causing harm to the state, defined under Article 28 of Bolivia’s Law No. 004, the Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz law against corruption, illicit enrichment and unexplained wealth.

The prosecutor’s document identifies Fernando Gabriel Cerimedo and others as subjects of an ex officio complaint. It also warns that failure to attend the investigative statement could lead to the issuance of an arrest warrant.

García Pinto took office in April and was sworn in by then-presidential minister José Luis Lupo Flores. The prosecutors’ commission believes his testimony could provide key elements for the investigation. The vice ministry had not issued an official statement on the summons by the time the report was published.