Thursday, February 16, 2006

Bolivia: Venezuelan "Experts" To "Help" Audit National Airline??

Bolivian Airline Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, is in financial trouble, facing a pilots strike and is being intervened by the Bolivian government. Privatized in the 90's, under the so-called capitalization model, it evolved into a real headache due to lack of transparency in the process, with the Brazilian buyer making a mess of things. They in turn were bought out by a group of Bolivians who haven't been able to turn it around.

So, the Government of Bolivia is forcing the company to undergo an audit. But, lo and behold who are they bringing in to conduct said audit? Venezuelan government "experts"? LAB managers, many of whom desperately want the mess fixed, are nevertheless aghast at the idea of a private Bolivian company being subjected to a foreign governments "advisors."

Seems pretty silly to me, after all, Venezuelan "auditors" should be auditing the massive thievery going on in their oil industry instead of annoying Bolivians.

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