The Board of Directors of the Permanent Commission on Human Rights (CPDH), reported that the Ministry of the Interior (Migob), did not receive the financial information for 2021, with the excuse that they must also present the Daily Book and the General Ledger.
By law, the organizations governed by the Migob they must present their annual financial information, audited by a certified public accountant (CPA), as a requirement to receive a ‘letter of compliance’, necessary to be able to operate the following year.
What happened this Monday is not new, according to what was reported by Marcos Carmona, director of the CPDH, when he explained that if they did not present the Daily Book and the General Ledger, “it is not because we did not want to, but because they themselves have not handed over those books.
Carmona said that at the beginning of 2020, officials from the Ministry of the Interior withheld precisely those two books, when the NGO presented the report on its 2019 operations.
“We cannot present them, when they have not even been returned to us, despite the fact that at the time they fined us without any justification, and we paid about 11,000 cordobas, for having the right to the book. After two years, they have not been returned to us, ”he asserted.
The defender said that, although in previous years they always imposed some observations on them, and that they answered them as required, “they were never received.”
The most recent report presented to the government authority includes the name of each project that is being executed and where, as well as its duration, and the amounts committed for each one. The breakdown of expenses for each project refers to how much they pay for salaries, energy, social security, professional services, etc.
Carmona said that in 2021 they received the equivalent of 13.3 million córdobas, from international cooperation, which was added to an initial balance of 900,000 córdobas, all of which adds up to about 402,000 dollars, “which is little for the entire operation. of this institution.”
“It is very important that the CPDH does not manage millions,” emphasized Mauricio Lacayo, treasurer of the entity, detailing that the Commission has paid some 42,000 dollars (just over 10% of income) to official institutions, to guarantee its operation.
eliminating excuses
It refers to payments that, by law, must be reported to the General Directorate of Revenue (DGI) and the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute (INSS), as well as payments for public services such as electricity, water, telephones… “everything what is needed for this institution to work, and to respond to the needs of Nicaraguans, especially in current times, so difficult for everyone”, he valued.
Both defenders emphasized that this human rights organization is not an enemy of any government, “but we do want to tell the Minister of the Interior what is happening with the CPDH, because in addition to the financial books, now they are making observations from 2014. , which we ask you to do in writing,” said Carmona.
The lawyer assured that in 2021 they presented observations corresponding to the years 2016, 2017 and 2018, and “although we presented them, they did not receive them.”
During the conference, the director of the CPDH showed the 2014 report, with the Migob receipt stamp, for which he believes that “it is not possible that after eight years, they are asking us for this information”, assuring that they are willing to show what they are asked, because “we have nothing to hide”.
“Our finances are transparent, all are audited, and have been presented to our donors, without ever having problems with them,” he argued.
The lack of the aforementioned letter of compliance imposes limitations on the entity, which has had to reduce personnel and operate with the support of volunteers, because “we cannot enter money from international transactions”, to the point that “some directors have collaborated to cover expenses,” he revealed.
Carmona explained that the entity’s situation “is difficult. We have applied for loans that we hope to repay soon. The fact that they do not give us the compliance letter limits our ability to carry out international transactions, as well as our institutional work as a Human Rights Commission.”
The Administration of Daniel Ortega has closed some 115 NGOs in fifteen years and dozens in recent monthsusing as an excuse the lack of compliance with the so-called Putin Law (Foreign Agents Law), or by ensuring that entities they had not submitted their financial information on timeor what they were headless.
Perhaps for this reason, Carmona promised that “when they give us the letter of compliance, we will accredit as foreign agents“, While Lacayo assured that “our Board of Directors has never been headless. We have always strictly complied with what the Law orders.”
