MOPC defends planillerismo in Caminera: the 15 VIP inspectors

The final report of immediate special control to the National Directorate of the Highway Patrol of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) confirms that fifteen general inspectors received their salaries uninterruptedly for three years without having to work. This was possible thanks to special permits that were authorized by Arnoldo Wiens, then minister of the MOPC and today a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic for the National Republican Association (ANR).

The aforementioned opinion of the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) indicates that these 15 VIP inspectors of the Caminera received a total of G. 4,672,025,979 during 36 months, thus causing an alleged patrimonial damage to the State.

It is important to note that this inspection report was made after the publications of the journalistic team of La Nación Investiga that denounced the planillerism of several VIP inspectors of the National Directorate of the Highway Patrol, and that it was now confirmed by the Comptroller General of the Republic.

The document also confirms that these fifteen officials received salaries of G. 9.7 million per month between August 27, 2018 and December 9, 2021 without performing operational, administrative or any kind of work. It adds that these general inspectors obtained special permission as an “award”, receiving their salaries on a monthly basis. However, it was found that they did not provide their operational services, did not record their attendance at their workplaces and did not perform any specific function verified in said period of time that could make them meritorious to be privileged with licenses or permits for such an award. as established by the regulatory decree of the Road Patrol Law.

The VIP inspectors spent long periods of time collecting their salaries without doing anything because they benefited from three resolutions by former Minister Arnoldo Wiens. The first is MOPC resolution No. 2296/18, which grants special permission from November 24, 2018 to November 24, 2019; the second is MOPC resolutions No. 2987/2019 and 2991/2019 by which the permit granted runs from November 25, 2019 to November 25, 2020; and finally there is the MOPC resolution No. 2317/20 by which they were granted permission from December 9, 2020 to December 9, 2021.

The Comptroller also highlights that at no time was there an evaluation to grant these permits that affected the budget for fiscal years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. The opinion emphasizes that in the MOPC Legal Affairs Directorate there was no evidence between the background, study, evaluation and analysis carried out by the Highway Patrol Qualifications Commission to grant the benefit to the inspectors, nor was any established procedure or requirement observed, to access the special permit qualified as an “award”.

It also adds that the MOPC Human Resources Directorate does not have any document that was presented by the Highway Patrol requesting the assignment of specific functions to the inspectors benefiting from the special permit in question. While there are papers that show that the aforementioned permits have been requested, processed and granted by the Highway Patrol.

The Comptroller’s Office also indicates that these 15 VIP inspectors had more than 30 years of service or were close to completing them, however, the Highway Patrol did not take the necessary steps before the General Directorate of Retirement and Pensions of the Ministry of Finance for the pass to retirement. correspondent.

It details that six general inspectors have already completed 30 years of service as of December 2018, when Wiens endorsed the special permits for these and others who were paid without working for three years.

The opinion adds that by December 2021 the fifteen general inspectors benefited by the former minister have already exceeded 30 years of service.

Finally, it is important to note that in administrative law the “principle of legality” governs, which establishes that for administrative acts an express or implicit authorization in the law or founded regulation is required. Now, considering precisely this principle, as observed by the CGR, none of the administrative acts/resolutions mention exemptions in the presentation of the service to the inspectors, so it could not be understood or interpreted as a “tacit authorization”. And it also adds that the highest authority should not grant these permits to the inspectors and that they not provide any type of service, since in administrative law “everything that is not expressly permitted is prohibited.”

The inspectors benefiting from the allegedly irregular permits granted by Wiens are Amancio Morínigo, Ignacio López Corvalán, Édgar Teodoro Articanaba Moreno, Félix Ramírez Palma, Guillermo Brítez Pereira, Ramón Galdino Benítez Fernández, Óscar Alberto Benítez Paredes, Blas Adalberto Ponce Ramírez, Catalino Meza Barreto , Domingo Méndez Cáceres, Eustacio Ignacio González, Rodolfo Favio Maldonado Paredes, Tomás Aquino González, Juan José Castiñeira Rivaldi and Reinaldo Giménez Sosa.