Five directors of the Masaya handicraft market were imprisoned on May 5, after the Income Administration of that city carried out an audit and ensured that the detainees had embezzled funds since 2018, as they revealed to Article 66 shopping center supplies.
The detainees are identified as Rosa Elena Pavon, Consuelo (without detailing your last name), Osmar Pavon, in charge of market finances. The other two jailed are Freddy Y Pedro Rene Gutierrezthe latter is under house arrest for suffering from a terminal illness.
Related news: Desolation in the Masaya handicraft market due to lack of tourists
The other four directors are being held in the Masaya police station under investigation, however it was learned that one of those involved —whose name was not allowed to be revealed— will leave next Saturday, May 14, “for not having more evidence against him, but he will continue to be investigated and if it turns out that he is actually involved, he will go back to jail.
“It is not known if the other four managers – from the handicrafts market – will continue to be detained and if they are released it will be on bail and with the investigation pending,” reported another source on condition of anonymity.
As for the action against the directors of the tourist center, it was learned that “everything started since a fund for market improvements was made available in 2018, after it was set on fire in the social protests that year.”
“Supposedly there was an inflation of costs, which has been normal in the State because whenever a project is done, prices are inflated, they say they spend millions and the truth is that it is not,” said the informant.
Another of the situations mentioned is that those implicated in the alleged embezzlement of funds are faithful militants and sympathizers of the Sandinista Front ruling party, “but in the end the smartest survives, since there are people who wanted their jobs and that is why they They denounced, “said the source consulted.
It is not the first time that illegal actions by public workers in Masaya have been known, since even the former mayor of Masaya Orlando Noguera He was accused of acts of corruption by workers and owners of sections of the Ernesto Fernández market in the city of flowers.
After the social protests of 2018, the economic activity in Masaya has not been the same and more so in the handicraft market; module owners have reported that sales continue to fall and each month they must manage to pay the lease.
