The Bolivian government assures that the receiver of a bankrupt bank committed suicide

The death of the receiver of a bankrupt bank that shocked Bolivia was a suicide, as officially declared by the Government of the Andean country. According to the version of the Ministry of the Interior (interior), Carlos Colodro launched himself from the 15th floor of the Ambassador building in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on the night of Saturday, May 27, overwhelmed by the work he had to do to liquidate the Fassil bank. and after showing a clear picture of depression, which had led him to lose eight kilos of weight in a month, always according to this version. Showing the videos from the building’s security cameras, Minister Eduardo del Castillo disproved one by one the theories that were circulating and that attributed Colodro’s death to a murder related to the fraud that had led the bank to bankruptcy.

The news that the body of Carlos Colodro had been found in front of the building where his office worked caused great concern in all social sectors of the country. Given that the 67-year-old financial auditor was carrying out a frantic activity as controller of the first Bolivian bank to go bankrupt in more than 20 years, and that dark financial dealings had been denounced by the directors of the financial institution, who are in prison, the impression general was that he had not taken his own life. At the same time, suicide was the hypothesis favored by the police from the beginning.

Five hours after identifying Colodro’s body, she found a farewell letter. Its authenticity was confirmed today by Minister Del Castillo. In it, Colodro complains to his superiors because they did not answer his phone during the month that he dealt with the problems of the bank in liquidation and apologizes to his family for the decision to take his life. “They deceived me, they turned their backs on me, they killed me,” the note begins. “It costs me enormously [dejar a su familia], but I believe that the decision made is God’s will for me, ”it reads in its final part. Officials who worked with the inspector were also identified, to whom he told that he was depressed.

The bank official’s family has rejected the possibility of suicide from the outset. The lawyer who represents her, Jorge Valda, generated a great impact by stating that the body had “puncture wounds” and that it was missing organs, such as an eye and a testicle. He also pointed out that the posthumous note had not been written in the handwriting of the veteran Central Bank official and that the style of the note was not his either. For the Minister of Government, it is “irresponsible speculation.” Del Castillo explained that the injuries and the loss of body parts came from the blows that the suicide bomber received when he fell more than 50 meters, hitting different parts of the building’s façade. And he assured that the signature and handwriting on the letter are undoubtedly those of the man who fell from the Ambassador.

The first reaction on social media to Del Castillo’s press conference was skepticism. The opinion was widely spread that Colodro had been assassinated because he was about to make revelations that would hurt powerful interests, which for some were business and, for others, political.

Fassil was intervened a little less than a month ago because he no longer had cash to return the deposits of his clients. He had already had to face massive withdrawals for several weeks. At first, its executives said that they were victims of a speculative attack, but, after the intervention led by Colodro, it was unofficially known that Fassil was part of a fraudulent financial scheme, through which part of the loans that the bank granted to the bank was diverted. controlling group, the Santa Cruz Financial Group. In exchange for making these diversions, the borrowers received shares in the conglomerate and returns well above normal market rates. This technically converted the loans into linked credits (those that a bank lends to its own shareholders) and put them outside Bolivian law. In addition, the bank’s shareholders owned a real estate company with which they carried out fraudulent operations. The lists of businessmen involved in the plot include some important businessmen from Santa Cruz, a region traditionally opposed to the leftist governments of the last decades. The party of the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, who is imprisoned for other matters, criticized that the names of the businessmen had been leaked and accused the government of “politicizing” the case by letting information about the alleged frauds reach the public. some official media.

Follow all the international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.