The former Grand Master of Freemasonry, Mario Alberto Urquía Carreño, was arrested on September 10 under accusations of fraud against the Grand Lodge of Cuba, in collaboration with the former Grand Treasurer, Airam Cervera Reigosa.
Cubanet obtained access to a statement issued by the current Grand Master, Mayker Filema Duarte, where he details that Urquía and Cervera were summoned by the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) as part of an ongoing investigation into a second theft of thousands of dollars from the institution's funds.
Urquía remains detained, and Cervera avoided imprisonment after committing to refund the embezzled money within a period set by the Cuban Prosecutor's Office. If he does not comply with this restitution, he will also be imprisoned until the trial.
The statement does not reveal the location of the police station where Urquía is being held, nor the deadline that Cervera has to return the money.
On September 6, Filema Duarte informed the Masonic community about the disappearance of 2,116,555 Cuban pesos, equivalent to 17,637 dollars, between January and August 2024.
The financial audit revealed that Cervera had transferred funds to his personal account from the accounts of the Grand Lodge of Cuba, in collusion with Urquía.
Presumably, both forged bank documents to cover up the embezzlement and ordered the lodge's accountant, Gertrudis Mena, to record an additional loss of 2,700 dollars that was also stolen.
In addition to this amount, there is the theft of 19 thousand dollars that occurred in January 2024 at the Urquía office, when he was still holding the position of Grand Master.
This man has been involved in a major controversy for months, and when things seemed to calm down, he appears as the protagonist of another mysterious disappearance of money from the Cuban masons.
Urquía reported the first theft as a "disappearance of money from his office" on April 1. He was detained and promised to return the money in three months, but he did not meet this deadline and the Cuban Prosecutor's Office took no action against him.
The government reinstated him as Grand Master of the Lodge, generating strong debate, criticism, and internal controversies within the institution that ultimately led to Urquía's resignation in August.
Currently, both Urquía and Cervera are prohibited from leaving the island, following suspicions that they might attempt to flee abroad with the funds embezzled from the Grand Lodge of Cuba.
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