Protests over grants to high-income insiders

Media revelations of financial aid granted by the Institute for the Training and Use of Human Resources (Ifarhu)  led to protesters in front of the entity’s office on Monday demanding the resignation of its director and the filing of complaints with the Accounts Prosecutor’s Office, the National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (Antai) and the Public Ministry ( PM).

Lawyers Cedeño and Abdiel González Tejeira filed three legal actions seeking to clarify how the benefits are granted.

Cedeño went early Monday to the Accounts Prosecutor’s Office to request an audit of the management of the economic aid funds delivered by the Ifarhu and to establish if the procedure for their award was in accordance with the law.

He explained that in this case, the important thing is to know if the funds were used correctly.

Later, Cedeño went to Antai in order to establish whether the actions of the officials who delivered the financial aid adhered to the spirit that led to the creation of this figure, which is to give financial aid to students who do not have resources to study.

Cedeño’s actions have their genesis in a series of publications in which children of deputies, relatives of politicians and officials with good incomes were given financial aid by Ifarhu.

While Tejeira, from the Arraiján 2,000 Movement, went to the MP to file a criminal complaint against the director of Ifarhu, Bernardo Meneses, for the alleged crime of embezzlement for the waste of thousands of dollars delivered to government officials in financial aid, despite having large financial resources, to the detriment of low-income students.

Tejeira asked the MP to carry out a raid on the Ifarhu headquarters to obtain information on how financial aid was given.