The former Court prosecutor and criminal lawyer Jorge Díaz assumed the defense of the former Minister of Tourism and the senator from the Front Amplio Liliam Kechichian in the case that investigates her for purchases and expenses made in the Ministry of Tourism from 2010 to 2021.
In dialogue with The Observerthe legislator said that she tried to choose a professional within the orbit of “the best”, before an instance that she described as a “superior injustice”.
“First of all, we looked for what could be the best (lawyers) in the face of the greater injustice that they have sent us to Justice after the management we did. The reasons (for which I chose him) are private. Now we have to walk this path; I am absolutely calm about what we did,” she explained.
The crossed complaints involving Kechichian, the former Undersecretary Benjamín Liberoff and the former Minister of Tourism Germán Cardoso, took legal status last year, based on the conclusions of the parliamentary investigative commission that worked in the Chamber of Deputies, around a series of advertising purchases that had led to the departure of the Colorado chief.
After Cardoso’s resignation, the Broad Front began to investigate the management of the then minister and ratified a criminal complaint against him, which was extended in March. The current deputy, who will be represented by the lawyer Jorge Barrera, went on the counterattack some time later and aimed directly at Kechichian and Liberoff to collect what happened during the last two Broad Front governments in that secretariat.
complaints
The Broad Front’s complaint, led by deputy Eduardo Antonini, was based on the public accusations made by the former director of Tourism Martín Pérez Banchero about a series of “important irregularities” allegedly committed by Cardoso -which led to his resignation-.
In a 14-page document, accessed The Observer, the opposition warned that the former minister “It has been on the public agenda for a long time” because “it has been involved in various events apparently at odds with legality, ethics and morality.”
The opposition mentioned, then, direct purchases observed by the Court of Auditors (TCR), purchases from a single company for “unprecedented amounts”, along with “excessive expenses” in advertising without reports or prior advice. In the complaint, the members of the Front also asked to investigate the execution of expenses months before there were offers or administrative actions that justify them, together with reiterations of expenses observed by the TCR for not complying with the purchasing regulations.
Another point of the complaint revolved around direct contracts with companies that Banco República targeted for operating with a Panamanian bank, a country that is part of the “grey list” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Antonini also raised the situation of the concession of the former hotel in Punta del Este Las Delicias and his alleged relationship with Elbio Rodríguez, Cardoso’s adviser in the ministry.
The Colorado legislator, for his part, responded with a request to investigate everything related to purchases, contracted advertising and the organization of events by the Ministry of Tourism between 2010 and 2021.
His intention was to investigate all the direct contracts made by Liberoff in his years as number two in the ministry. Also delve into everything related to a agreement signed in 2015 between Tourism and the Armenian General Charitable Union (UGAB), which involved an amount of US$ 1.1 million and which, recalled the former minister, was observed twice by the Court of Accounts.
In dialogue with The ObserverCardoso assured that the acquisition processes were the same in one administration and in the other, so his objective is to “compare”. “The Broad Front does not want to investigate backwards. Is it strange, isn’t it?” He asked himself. “The procedure is the same and if there are irregularities, they also committed them. You have to investigate,” she said.
When presenting his brief, Cardoso considered it “essential” to clarify the issue through a survey of the last 11 years. “I understand the political game of the opposition, but beyond the political game here is the honor of the people,” he said, affirming that he will demonstrate how they proceeded in their administration of the portfolio.
He also highlighted the importance of “knowing how to understand the absolutely extraordinary situation” that the country was going through due to the closure of borders during the pandemic. “Here there is a great campaign of enchastre”, he concluded.
