US busts Bolivia’s top police chief for trying to extort businessman

Authorities in Miami arrested Bolivia’s top anti-corruption chief on Saturday after he allegedly tried to shake down a Bolivian businessman who faces criminal charges in his country.

National Police Colonel Mario Fabricio Ormachea Aliaga was scheduled to appear Friday before a federal judge to hear charges related to an alleged $30,000 extortion attempt against the former owner of the Bolivian airline company, Aerosur. Ormachea is being held at a federal detention center and could be kept in custody until his trial, the US Attorney’s Office in Miami said.

The incident has ignited a series of investigations in Bolivia. The daily Página 7 reported that Ormachea was linked to a group of traffickers under criminal investigation and whose case file went missing. A parliamentary commission said it would travel to Miami later next month to investigate the allegations filed against Ormachea, the La Paz daily La Razón reported.

Ormachea arrived last week in Florida to meet with businessman Humberto Roca, who is seeking asylum in the United States after he claimed that the Bolivian government is politically persecuting him. Ormachea, who was arrested on Saturday after meeting with Roca, has told FBI agents that he met with the exiled businessman on two occasions but denied trying to extort him. He added that he did not travel to Miami in his official role.

An FBI affidavit filed with the criminal complaint against Ormachea said that Roca initially gave the police official $5,000 as a down payment toward the full amount. He contacted the FBI, on his lawyer’s advice, and a sting operation was set up. The FBI set up surveillance recordings that reported capture Ormachea telling Roca he would “dispose of the pending charges” against him in exchange for $30,000. The police official explained that he “would charge someone else” instead.