The court of accounts fined Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and other members of the Provincial Memory Commission

The Honorable Court of Accounts (HTC) of the province of Buenos Aires fined 300 thousand pesos to members of the Provincial Memory Commission (CPM), chaired by Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, for the “lack of delivery of documentation and background” for direct contracting of expenses for events in 2020.

In a resolution, the UTC – chaired by the Kirchnerist Federico Thea – approved in general the accounting of expenses of the CPM of 2019 and that of 2020 for about 157 million pesos than the CPM.

However, he demanded that Pérez Esquivel and other directors answer for almost a million pesos “in solidarity” for poorly rendered expenses of an event at the Chapadmalal hotel complex. It is a reparation for the Buenos Aires state. this claim adds that of the fines and it is due to the institutional responsibility of those sanctioned in the organization that should have controlled the expenses.

The UTC established 90 days for those responsible “reached by the pecuniary sanctions to deposit said amounts in a Banco Provincia account.” He communicated his decision to the legislature and gave those sanctioned 15 days to appeal the sentence.

The CPM is the same agency of the Buenos Aires state that promoted the controversial release of prisoners during the pandemic and drafted reports that the federal judge of Dolores Martín Bava used to prosecute former president Mauricio Macri in the case for alleged espionage on relatives of the submarine San Juan, despite the fact that it is not within his original competence. On Friday the Buenos Aires Federal Chamber annulled by non-existence of crimes Bava’s accusation against Macri with harsh criticism of the magistrate.

The CPM was created to collaborate in trials for crimes against humanity in the province, especially the so-called Camps circuit but in recent years he has been getting involved in criminal cases promoted by Kirchnerism. His secretary is the leader K Roberto Cipriano García. The agency also maintains a dispute with the Minister of Security, Sergio Berni.

The fines fell on Pérez Esquivel, who openly supports the Frente de Todos, former Senator K candidate Dora Barrancos, former head of the CTA Víctor de Gennaro, María Corfiel Recalde, Susana Méndez and Sandra Raggio.

The sanctions, based on the audit, were approved unanimously by Thea and the members Gustavo Diez, Juan Peredo, Daniel Chillo, and Héctor Pietronave.

The official resolution of the HRC of the 30th of last month, to which it agreed Clarionsays that these directors, in addition to the fine, “should not be considered exempt from liability until the HTC makes a concrete and definitive statement regarding the issues whose treatment is postponed”.

The decision is the result of a long audit that also warned about “the lack of proof of presentation and approval of annual planning and financial statements” of this organization with more than 120 employees. In the operative part, the HTC left without effect another four observations of the auditors.

In an audit of more than 120 pages, all the observations of the auditors to the presentation of expenses of the organism and the downloads of this.

For example, direct contracting such as sound services for an event at the hotels in the Chapadmalal complex was objected to. for more than 160 thousand pesos, for cleaning 850 thousand pesos, and meals for 2,500,000, among other 120 contracts. The limit for direct purchases at that time was 5 million, but “the sum” of the payments for that event is “17,317,934.”

The call for bidders was not accredited, nor was the publication of service orders on the province’s website to open competition between providers.

For these and other reasons and by virtue of the law of administrative procedures of the province, among other regulations, it was decided to apply the sanctions provided for in article 16 of law 10,869 and its amendments.

The CPM, which reports to the legislature, wanted to reject the HTC’s audit competence, but the latter replied that it was authorized by law.

The audit detected about events held in Chapadmalal that there were “80 records (of participants) duplicates and 10 without identification. In addition, he found “inconsistencies” in the remittances provided by the food supplier and the controlled data, among other irregularities.