The Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) presented a report and opinion on the budget execution of public institutions, corresponding to the year 2021 at the end of August. This report detected a total of 96 reports of indications of punishable acts.
Among the institutions evaluated is the Ministry of Education, managed by Eduardo Petta (August 2018 to March 2021), Juan Manuel Brunetti (March 2021 to March 2022) and Nicolás Zárate (March 2022 to the present). The analysis was carried out during the period between April 2019 and August 2022, which is managed by Camilo Benítez, Comptroller General of the Republic.
BALANCE
The main striking aspect of the report is that the educational portfolio carried out an obvious “make-up” in the General Balance for the 2021 period.
One of the aspects is that the educational portfolio did not allocate G. 27,972 million as a forecast object in its Balance Sheet corresponding to the contracts for works prosecuted for non-compliance, affecting the account “Civil Works in Progress”. The CGR denounced the lack of follow-up by the MEC to the administrative and/or judicial actions adopted for the claim for return of the advance payment not used in works and the damages caused by the breach of contract in LPN 2/16, ID 305078, Contract 4/17 company ITASA SA for G. 24 billion.
In addition, there were overvaluations (possible overinvoicing) in the account “fixed goods in stock” for G. 181 thousand million due to the difference between the balance recorded in the General Balance and in the account “Consumer goods” for G. 54 thousand. millions. There was also an overvaluation of G. 1,081 million in the account “Expenses for non-personal services”, shown in the Income Statement, corresponding to the tender called “Acquisition of computer equipment – educational institutions of official management throughout the country” – ID 379317.
Another striking aspect is that the works completed for G. 11 billion continue to appear in execution in the current period.
SCHOOL KITS
In the section there are questions about the tender with ID 377253 called “Acquisition of supplies for school kits, multi-year 2020/2021”. The value of the call was G. 136,700 million (US$ 19.5 million). One of the 10 firms awarded was AGR SA Graphic Services. The Comptroller disputes that said company did not prove sufficient financial capacity to contract with the State, despite this it won a lot of G. 16,930 million (US$ 2.4 million).
Other irregularities that revolve around the call are that there is no documentation that supports the respective data and information, for the purpose of determining the number of schools and the most deprived areas to be benefited with the construction of school canteens.
