This Wednesday, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, Omar Paganini, appeared together with the president of ANTEL, Gabriel Gurméndez, before Parliament, at the request of the nationalist senator, Jorge Gandini, to analyze the construction of the ANTEL Arena.
Paganini questioned “the level of secrecy that was tried to generate for the construction of the multimodal complex, against the right to know of the shareholders, who are the citizens.”
Gurméndez defended the hiring of the Ecovis company to carry out the audit for the construction of ANTEL Arena, by the current administration, “because it was done through public bidding in compliance with the provisions of the TOCAF.”
He remarked that it concluded that there were “irregularities and departures from the regulations in the construction of the multimodal complex.”
He added that the audit also referred to “the lack of planning and weaknesses in execution and control throughout the material development of the undertaking.”
He indicated that the ANTEL Arena had an extra cost of 63 million dollars, that is to say that it cost three times more than the original cost, he added that the obligations pending payment of the financial trust, “which was resorted to to get out of trouble, are 48 million dollars ”, and questioned that it continues to be a financial burden paid by all clients in the country.
Privatization
He said that ANTEL “ended up awarding the management of the management of the ANTEL Arena to the firm AEG Facilities, a million-dollar contract that will govern for five years for the operation of the multimodal complex.”
He added that the manager “does not run any risk and has a guaranteed monthly fee of $ 35,000, but ANTEL supports the financing of the management and operations to which the manager is accountable for the application of the funds assigned to him on a quarterly basis. In other words, a private company acquires goods and services that the State pays for, but without the entity having any interference or imposing formalities in the procedures for these acquisitions ”.
“This complex was privatized during its management”, denounced Gurméndez, “because the management contract was awarded to a private company, since ANTEL does not have the knowledge, the organization, or the legal instruments to contract music, screens, sponsorships, or hostesses to organize shows or sporting events ”, declared the hierarch.
He assured that “the business will never recover, not even in a hundred years”, and that “the Municipality of Montevideo is the beneficiary.”
Express audit
On the other hand, he denounced that the previous authorities commissioned an “express” audit from the Internal Audit of ANTEL, which was in charge of an official who currently works, in commission, together with the mayor Carolina Cosse.
The opposition senators issued a statement in which they declared “complete and satisfactory the reports provided by Paganini and Gurméndez, in defense of ANTEL of the correct use of public resources, and of transparency in the management of public companies.”
They state that “the multiple and serious complaints, observations and deviations that have been indicated are confirmed, as well as the secrecy and concealment that have surrounded the decision process, construction and administration of the ANTEL Arena.”
They regret the decision of the Senators of the Broad Front not to enter the Chamber and to avoid the debate in the highest sphere of national democratic representation.
They also decided to send the stenographic version and documents presented in court to the criminal justice.
