The Ministry of Housing and Land Management (Miviot) leader, Mario Etchelecu, admitted yesterday that he did " applications at different times" of materials and equipment to the National Assistance Program (PAN) and, once recruited directly, also he received , but in the meantime he denied involvement in the legal stage machinery that favored companies close friends to this government.
Etchelecu statements given in TVN, this time they were hesitant and full of jargon and semantic interpretations, looking away from PAN and displayed outside these irregularities already confirmed.
This contrasts with his strong stance from last week, this television media, when emphatically asserted: "In the Housing Ministry have not made any direct contracting" .
But Etchelecu was forced to go out for an explanation, after Wednesday when with documents in his hand the director of the National Authority of Transparency and Access to Information (Antai), Angelica Maytín, denied it.
"Yes there was direct recruitment!” replied Maytín.
She added ... "I said a year ago, and now I reiterate: the Miviot must suspend all purchases through the PAN, as they are in violation with the provisions of the interinstitutional agreement , particularly Article 6", said Angelica Maytín.
He confessed
Unable to deny the purchases have been doing from PAN, the Etchelecu minister was calm and explained that all these "procedures" were "made at the PAN" and not from him.
"I must say that what is saying the director of Antai is correct. But two things totally different. That purchase process that made the PAN itself did for direct contracting process. What I will say [now] is that the Housing Ministry has never made a direct contract for the Ceilings of Hope Program, was the argument Etchelecu .
He also acknowledged that "there are other applications at different times from the Ministry of Housing to the PAN to shop.
And its purpose was to "use the money that was poorly designed in other projects," now in favor of Miviot.
He clarified, in his version, that all these purchases would be conducted PAN " with a budget from the previous PAN administration in 2014, not in 2015 ". Although, a report from PAN had to which Panama America has access confirmed that during the 2015 Miviot made direct purchases . Etchelecu ensures that the Miviot not use the PAN to execute purchases, however, the PAN recorded transactions appear to support this ministry
Attacks to the PAN
Mario Etchelecu also took the opportunity to show solidarity with the speech of the director of Antai accusing the PAN and its way forward in recent months .
"I think the figure of PAN should be used specifically for the procurement of emergency", he said in the first instance.
And on the "division of matter" that reveal Antai audits, Etchelecu added: " I agree that that is not acceptable; and such cases should be investigated"
But he reiterated that does not have to explain anything about it. "What happens is that I can not answer for a process in which the Housing Ministry was not involved" he said .
As expected, the ambiguous position of Minister Miviot caused various reactions.
Habla Varela
- Contrataciones directas
- El presidente Juan Carlos Varela intentó ayer restarles valor noticioso a las contrataciones directas en el PAN para beneficiar al Miviot. "Ese es un tema de agosto de 2014, y estamos en 6 de enero de 2016", dijo Varela, sin negar que en realidad se dieron.
- Fiscalización
- Y sobre el papel crítico asumido ahora por la zarina anticorrupción sobre este tema, el mandatario reaccionó en este tono: "Que las instancias que tienen su responsabilidad, como la Antai, hagan las preguntas que tienen que hacer; el ministro las ha contestado".
