Presidency denies rigged Christmas light billings

CONTRACTS awarded to the company Showpro to install Christmas decorations in various locations while the company was under investigation for tax evasion were defended by the presidency on Tuesday, Jan 23.

The presidency said that there was nothing irregular about the contracts, despite the fact that they appear to have been structured so as to not require approval by the board of the National Assistance Program (PAN), which was the agency that paid for them reports La Prensa.

No mention was made of presidency staffer, lawyer Katia Fabrega,named in earlier reports as having links with one of the companies in the showpro web.

“Each of these contracts had different specifications, which was why they could not be under the same contract,” the presidency said.

The PAN, which was replaced by the Department of Social Assistance (DAS) at the beginning of this year, awarded contracts to Showpro for $250,000, $245,000 and $288,000. Under government regulations, the PAN board of directors would have had to approve the contracts had they exceeded $300,000 reports La Prensa.

The three contracts were sent to the Comptroller for endorsement between November 2015 and this month, which coincided with an investigation by the General Directorate of Revenue of Showpro for possible tax evasion.