A group of 40 prosecutors came to Congress to look for documents to check if there are staff who charge without working. Assembly Speaker Mario Ponce said he has tried to “clean the house” but has run into “interests of other parties”.
A group of 40 prosecutors from the Anti-Corruption and Impunity Unit of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) raided the facilities of the Legislative Assembly yesterday as part of an investigation into the alleged existence of irregular squares, as reported by the Public Ministry.
The tax investigation is being carried out due to the alleged existence of vacancies that appear as employees of this State Body, but which only come to collect salaries, and also extends to the people who would have authorized these vacancies, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
The head of the anti-corruption unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, German Arriaza, explained that the flattening covers the Human Resources Management and the Financial Administrative Management. The registration was made with an order from the Fifth Court of Peace of Sant Salvador, which authorized them to carry out the diligence.
PHOTOS: This was the flattening that the FGR carried out in the Legislative Assembly for the investigation of alleged irregular squares
“We have a diversity of evidence that allows us at this stage to ask the appropriate justice of the peace for permission to make this record, there are certain diligences of a documentary and testimonial nature that have been incorporated and that have allowed us that the same is authorized and that is why we are carrying it out, “Arriaza explained.
Photo EDH / Francisco Rubio
With the flattening they intend to confiscate documentation and computer equipment that will allow the FGR to obtain evidence in the investigation conducted, Arriaza said.
With the court order, prosecutors have 3 days to be able to confiscate documentation they consider important for the investigation of so-called “ghost squares.”
“We are in the initial stage and we will collect all the information that allows us to effectively establish whether there are people who are hired in this institution and who are not carrying out their work activities as required by law,” said Arriaza.
The fiscal investigation extends to establish the “possible existence of crime and also determine with the same investigation who or who participated in different qualities in this fact and therefore establish some kind of responsibilities,” said the head of the unit Anti-corruption of the Prosecutor’s Office.
With the assent, the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating whether those responsible for authorizing the alleged irregular squares would have committed the crimes of embezzlement (appropriation of state resources) and arbitrary acts.
He reported that in addition to the prosecutors, there are also computer technicians who are participating in the registration in the two areas where the hiring of staff working in the different units is verified.
The order of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is given after the workers’ union of the Legislative Assembly (SITRAL) denounced the existence of more than 1,200 ghost places in the Legislative Body.
The head of the anti-corruption unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, German Arriaza, arrived at the Legislative Assembly and explained what the rape order consists of. Photo EDH / Francisco Rubio
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On Monday, Attorney General Raul Melara said an investigation had already been launched into the possible existence of irregular seats in the Legislative Assembly, adding that “everything that affects the state is taken very seriously.”
“From the moment we became aware that there are possible irregularities in the granting of ghost seats in the Legislative Assembly we have opened the corresponding file, there is already an ongoing investigation. And we do not only have this that has appeared in social networks, but we also have statements from members of the Board of Directors of the Legislative Assembly stating in some way that this has existed, so we are already investigating and will take the steps we deem necessary to find the truth. ” , said Melara.
Arriaza explained that “we will collect all the information that allows us to establish whether there are people who are effectively hired in this institution and who are not carrying out their work activities as required by law.”
Prosecutors came to parliament for the investigation of alleged irregular squares. Photo Legislative Assembly
Besides: Attorney General says he will investigate “ghost squares” in the Legislative Assembly
The tax investigation aims to establish the “possible existence of crime and also determine with the same investigation who or who may have participated in different qualities in this fact and therefore establish some kind of responsibilities,” Arriaza said.
For the time being, the Attorney General’s Office is investigating whether those responsible for authorizing the alleged “ghost squares” have committed the crimes of embezzlement (appropriation of state resources) and arbitrary acts.
Ponce denounces interests that prevented him from “cleaning the house”
Following the union’s complaints last week, the President of Congress, Mario Ponce, has explained that when taking over the administration of the Assembly it was found that many seats had already been hired in previous proceedings. He also mentioned that he tried to “tidy up the house,” but failed because of “interests of other parties.”
He commented that he would have launched a voluntary retirement decree in which he offered up to $ 35,000 in compensation so that “there would be all those who do not work at the institution or who are overworked at the institution How many believe they applied in this decree? Only 14 people, they did not want to go, “he noted. He also said that when he took office, the former President of the Assembly, Norman Quijano of ARENA, left him “a complicated situation.”
There are 2,400 seats in the Legislative Assembly, of which about 1,100 are allocated to political parties.
On March 12, Ponce said that when he took over the presidency of the Assembly, as in the beginning of the presidency of Norman Quijano, they both found themselves with a high number of places transferred from contracts to Wages Act.
The President of the Assembly referred specifically to the period in which the deputy Guillem Gallecs, of GUANYA, served as head of the Legislature, during the last year and a half of the legislature from 2015 to 2018.
Mario Ponce took office in the Assembly in the second half of the current legislature. In the first year and a half, the Congress was chaired by the deputy Norman Quijano, from ARENA, who received the title of Parliament from the Galician deputy, who ended his term in April 2018.