Supreme Court KOs Assembly expenses appeal
The autocratic president of the National Assembly, Yanibel Ábrego, currently facing a challenge to her re-election as a deputy l has received another setback in her extended battle with the nation’s comptroller Federico Humbert.
In a decision with five votes in favor, one against and three abstentions, the Supreme Court has denied an appeal presented by Abrego against a resolution of the comptroller that ordered the auditing of the 080 forms (bonuses, incentives and other services) of the deputies.
The ruling of the CSJ clears the way for the Comptroller to execute the audit mainly in the periods corresponding to the presidency of Ábrego (2017-2019).
On May 15, 2018, Humbert ordered the audit and tÁbrego filed the Amparo, which prevented the work of the auditors.
Ábrego argued in the Amparo that the comptroller did not notify her in advance that he was conducting a concomitant investigation of the 080 forms and that for this reason, she violated due process.
The legal action of Ábrego led to the forensic auditors of the Comptroller’s Office “not covering all the handling of money from payrolls and donations of the Assembly,” said a statement from the audit institution.
20 complaints
The Comptroller has submitted 20 complaints to the Supreme Court and the Public Prosecutor’s Office for alleged mismanagement in the funds of the National Assembly ( corresponding to contracting in payrolls and donations managed by deputies. An audit of the Comptroller’s Office revealed in last April that the Assembly managed between $201 million and $166 million in payroll and donation payments between 2014 and 2019.
Form 080 contains the staff of the deputies, hired through an allocation that went up from $4,000 to $30,000 per month for each deputy.
At the end of April 2019, the Comptroller’s Office published on its website the details of the expenses incurred by deputies between 2014 and 2019 in payrolls and donations. The information revealed that the deputies used more than $166 million in these two items and that children, brothers, fathers, and husbands of several deputies were among those named.
