LA PAZ, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Bolivian ex-President Luis Arce, who left office last month, has been detained by police, a former member of his cabinet said on Wednesday.
Arce may have been called in to testify in relation to an investigation into alleged embezzlement that happened while he was serving as economy minister under former President Evo Morales, Maria Nela Prada, who served as minister to the presidency under Arce, told journalists.
“Of course he’s innocent,” Prada told journalists. “This has been a total abuse of power. We hope this case is not being taken as an opportunity to carry out political persecution.”
She added that he had not been notified or ordered to appear. “They simply took him,” she said.
Reuters was not able to independently verify Arce’s whereabouts.
Local media reported that a Bolivian specialized police force known as FELCC had detained Arce. FELCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The embezzlement investigation centers around alleged state disbursements from a fund to finance projects for Indigenous communities.
Investigators cited by local media on Wednesday said evidence presented in the case implicated Arce in the misappropriation of public resources.
The arrest comes less than two months after centrist candidate Rodrigo Paz won the October runoff election, ending nearly two decades of dominance by the leftist MAS party that Arce represented. Paz has pledged to tackle corruption within state institutions.
(Reporting by Daniel Ramos, Kylie Madry and Lucinda Elliott, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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