The Ministry of Transport and Public Works has approved the renewal for 20 years of a warehouse in the port of Montevideo belonging to Rilcomar SA, of Grupo Seré, a company belonging to the family of Juan Seré Ferber, adviser to President Luis Lacalle Pou. The extension is subject to the intervention of the Court of Accounts and the approval of the Executive Power.
The Seré Group is made up of four firms: Jaume & Seré, specialized in customs management; Rilcomar SA, in charge of merchandise management; and Jauser and Skylake, which deal with the management of land, sea, air and multimodal cargo, with “door-to-door service” and ground transportation in the United States, respectively.
Rilcomar SA obtained the concession for deposit 2 of the port through a public tender in 1997 and began to exploit it the following year. The concession was renewed in 2003 and in 2013, and has now been extended for the first time to 20 years, until 2043.
Rilcomar SA has committed an estimated investment of 1,080,000 dollars and a “stable staffing”, which had the approval of the Infrastructure area of the ANP, since in an internal report they indicated that the request for a longer term of concession “is accompanied by an amount of investment that is also greater than in previous periods.”
The company says that it complies with all the legal
In a letter addressed to the president of the National Ports Administration (ANP), Juan Curbelo, Rilcomar SA, a Grupo Seré company, argued that it has complied with all the regulations of the public body, the environment and the obligations of all entities, as well as has responded to the requirements of the administration in everything related to the committed investments. In addition, the company assured that it has always complied with the payment of the established monthly fee and has not received any sanction from the ANP.
In the letter, dated February 23, 2022 and signed by Jorge Seré Ferber, it is highlighted that Rilcomar SA has proven to be a strategic partner since its inception by developing a reliable, viable and sustainable business. Due to the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic, the company expressly requested that the conditions of the current contract be maintained.
Chats with Astesiano
According to recently revealed information, a company belonging to Grupo Seré hired the services of a security company led by the former head of Presidential Security in June 2022. This situation continued until the arrest of the former boss in September of that same year. Juan Ignacio Seré, “innovation” adviser to President Luis Lacalle Pou, is part of this business group, according to data published by the weekly Búsqueda in December 2022.
Friopuerto Montevideo SA, a security company, reached an agreement with Alejandro Astesiano to protect a 27,000 square meter piece of land. This land is managed jointly with Rilcomar SA, a merchandise logistics subsidiary of Grupo Seré, which is led by Juan Seré, a figure close to the President of the Republic. In the first contact messages, Seré appears as the person in charge of recommending Astesiano for this job.
