The Justice charged this Tuesday the former director of the Ursec, Nicolás Cendoya for three crimes of abuse of functions. The precautionary measures will be discussed this Wednesday.
Along with the former head of the Front, the former president of the organization, Gabriel Lombide, was also charged in a case linked to the appointment of a Palmitas radio station in Soriano.
Justice also formalized the investigation for Cendoya’s secretary, who acted as co-author, as did the former secretary general, Oscar Mecol. The hearing ended on Tuesday night, after 12 hours.
After a hearing that lasted more than ten hours, the criminal judge Fernando Islas decided to grant the request of the prosecutor Diego Pérez to impute them for abuse of functions.
The defenses announced at a hearing that they will appeal the ruling.
Diego Battiste
Jorge Barrera, who represented Ursec at the hearing, and behind Diego Camaño, defender of another of the Ursec officials questioned
Prosecutor Pérez understood that Cendoya and the other leaders are responsible for three irregular events: the destruction of Ursec documentation, the procedure by which the Palmitas FM radio station in Soriano was authorized to operate, and the granting of a community radio station in Salto that operated with a power greater than that authorized.
Pérez had requested the accusations more than nine months ago but a series of resources raised by the defenses delayed the pronouncement of the Justice.
In the case of the official who destroyed the papers in the shredding machine, it was made clear at the hearing that no charges had been requested because the destroyed papers are still being investigated. That was the complaint that led to the initiation of the investigation. The president of Ursec, Mercedes Aramendía, denounced to the Prosecutor’s Office the destruction of documentation by a former official of the agency who entered the building, stole and allegedly destroyed documentation from the General Secretariat in a shredding machine.
Linked to that case, the prosecution charged three service officials, after it was proven that they leaked information from the criminal complaint to those close to Cendoya who then sent the information to the former director.
On the other hand, prosecutor Pérez understood that Lombide and Cendoya as authors and Mecol as co-author are responsible for allowing a Soriano radio to operate despite the fact that it had been in violation.
According to an administrative investigation that was provided to the prosecution, the Ursec inspectorate had closed the Palmites Radio and had seized the transmission equipment after verifying that the radio was operating without authorization, but the officials forced the inspectors to return the equipment so that they could continue on the air.
The other case for which Cendoya was held responsible was for setting up a community radio station in Salto. Bemba FM began operating after a resolution signed by then president Tabaré Vázquez on October 5, 2015 and ceased operations on January 5 of this year.
