The report of the Oversight Committee notes that the main channel for mobilizing resources was the Civil Protection, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Fund (Fopromid) “the mechanisms are highly discretionary”.
The special commission investigating the placement of securities and loans in the national and international markets of the Legislative Assembly received this Monday the representatives of the Committee for Monitoring and Citizen Monitoring of Emergency Funds, Recovery and Economic Reconstruction to discuss the third report of results on the use of funds these funds intended to address the crisis by COVID-19.
How has the government used these emergency funds?
The Veedoria Committee reported that the main fund movement channel during the emergency was the Disaster Protection, Prevention and Mitigation Fund (Fopromid), which received $ 607.1 million, “the mechanisms are highly discretionary” , said committee representatives. This means that Fopromid does not apply the Public Administration Procurement and Contracting Act (LACAP) in its management of funds.
In addition, they noted that at least $ 107 million of the funds that should have been earmarked for the emergency were used for different purposes.
SEE: Deputies question Minister of Agriculture purchases with Fopromid money with a higher value than reported in income
After hearing this information, the chairman of the commission, MP René Portillo Quadra (ARENA), expressed his concern: “We are very concerned because the Government urged the Assembly to approve funds for Covid, but , another important point is that the committee has been denied information, this is what it is repeatedly marking is a challenge to transparency, we hope that this situation improves so that the people know where their money “.
The coordinators of the committee, Wilson Sandoval and Ricardo Castaneda, reported that part of the resources obtained were allocated to items that are not directly related to the response to the pandemic by COVID-19, as these were allocated: $ 55 for Fomilenio II and $ 52 to pay veterans and ex-combatants, representing 10.8% of the $ 705 million coming from external debt.
According to the committee, until February 2 of this year the availability of resources according to the mechanism established in decree 608 of the Legislative Assembly is $ 999.3 million, of which 70.5% is again indebted by JICA, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where the remaining 29.5% comes from cuts in graduate items, general government bonds.
They pointed out that, unlike the provisions of Legislative Decree 608, Fopromid in its management does not apply the LACAP and allows transfers between different institutions without the intervention of the Assembly.
Among the conclusions expressed by the representatives of the Supervisory Committee are that the decisions for the management of the funds were not taken by the Board of Directors of Emergency Funds, in addition to which unforeseen availabilities were generated, through of adjustments to the current budget, apart from the fact that there were funds allocated for different destinations to deal with the pandemic.
They point out that Fopromid was the main destination of the resources and that the funds allocated by the Assembly were cut by a decree of the Executive, and that the resources for the most part were allocated through the regular budget. and not of an extraordinary.
“They look for any mechanism in which they cannot be held accountable”
MP Yanci Urbina, from the FMLN, said that the report made it clear that the Government had not complied with the mechanism established in Legislative Decree 608 for the management of funds. “He omitted compliance with the law with respect to decree 608 and occupied another mechanism contrary to what it establishes and, on the contrary, the basic principle of transparency, accountability, exposure of a extraordinary budget for an extraordinary situation was not met, “he said.
Deputy Marta Evelyn Batres, from ARENA, argued that when they passed the decree they gave a law mandate to the vet committee to make transparent the use of funds earmarked for the pandemic. In his opinion, the refusal to be transparent about the funds used is reprehensible.
“They are looking for any mechanism in which they cannot be held accountable. When we see that $ 607 million has brought them virtually diverted to Fopromid, precisely so as not to go through a procurement and contracting law, to be able to administer them, in the way what they have administered and I would go so far as to say, and in a responsible way, that they have diverted these funds for an electoral political campaign that this would be totally serious, unacceptable, ”MP Batres argued.
For his part, MP Rodolfo Parker, of the PDC, has stated that the Government has breached the mechanism of Decree 608. He said that the main issue for the Assembly, which was the health aspect of the emergency , was that only $ 20 million were detected that went for Health and $ 30 million for “a hospital that does not exist, in terms of at least the infrastructure that have only made the facade and we also find that no there are acts regarding the agreements of the board of directors, if we are very worried, as I say it is not something that surprises us but it should worry the country a lot, “he said.