Senator Salyn Buzarquis of Paraguay has publicly accused senior officials from the National Power Administration of Paraguay (ANDE) of accepting bribes to allow illicit bitcoin mining operations to continue unhindered. Buzarquis alleged that these officials, including ANDE’s President Felix Sosa, are complicit in permitting several underground bitcoin mining farms to operate by accepting monthly bribes that could reach $500,000.
During a session in the Senate, Buzarquis emphasized:
“ANDE’s senior management, alongside other officials, are reportedly pocketing an average of $500,000 in bribes monthly, profiting from energy theft from the Paraguayan people through illegal cryptocurrency activities.”
The senator asserted that such a large-scale corruption operation could not happen without the knowledge of President Sosa: “It is implausible that the president of ANDE is unaware of these activities. You cannot overlook real-time theft of energy of this magnitude.”
In response to these accusations, ANDE issued a statement vehemently denying the allegations, asserting its commitment to combatting energy theft. The statement read:
“Our administration has consistently led efforts to aggressively combat such criminal acts, particularly those associated with illegal cryptocurrency mining facilities.”
Buzarquis has called for either Sosa’s resignation or his appearance before the Senate to address these serious allegations. Recently, ANDE announced an increase in tariffs for legal cryptocurrency miners in Paraguay, resulting in backlash from affected companies. Previous reports have also implicated ANDE employees in similar corrupt practices dating back to 2018.
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