Second Varela Ministry facing investigation
HOT ON THE HEELS of the opening of a corruption probe into events at the the Ministry of Educationon comes the announcement that The Public Ministry is investigating the Department of Social Assistance (DAS) and the Ministry of Housing for contracts it issued at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015 for the Ceilings of Hope program.
The Ministry reported on Thursday, January 14 that the investigation will include Minister of Housing Mario Etchelecu.
“We are an open book and will allow the investigation of everything that has to be investigated,” said Etchelecu.
There are allegations that the contracts were awarded without going through proper bidding processes and were broken down into deals of less than $300,000 to avoid legislative oversight. A total of $15.3 million in contracts were awarded reports La Prensa which uncovered the events
For example, on March 24, 2015, the Office of the Comptroller was asked to approve four checks for the program of $138,00. The next day, it was asked to approve four additional checks of the same amount.
There have been allegations that these checks were essentially part of the same contract, and should have been scrutinized by the National Assembly because their combined value is above $300,000.
DAS officials have denied any wrongdoing. The DAS is the new name for the scandal plagued National Assistance program (PAN) with some 40 former directors, government officials and businessmen facing criminal trials over dealings during the Ricardo Martinelli years.
