Ex-official in Bolivia pleads guilty in US for bribes

NEW YORK (AP) — Bolivia’s former interior minister has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder bribes that a Florida-based company paid him in exchange for helping it secure a contract to provide tear gas to the Bolivian government, said the U.S. Department of Justice. Arturo Murillo, who was arrested last year in the U.S., received at least $532,000 in bribe payments. He served on former interim President Jeanine Áñez’s government. According to a Department of Justice press release, Murillo and his co-conspirators laundered the proceeds of the bribery scheme through the U.S. financial system, including bank accounts in Miami. Murillo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.