The Macri government spent almost 14 million euros on planes that were not able to fly, according to an audit of the General Syndicate of the Nation (Sigen) released, which warned that the Ministry of Defense had preliminary reports that warned on the status of the aircraft.
The report, which was sent to the Anti-Corruption Office (OA) for an eventual initiation of actionsanalyzed the acquisition, during 2017, of five aircraft by the Argentine Navy from the Government of France, through an agreement signed by the then Minister of Defense, Oscar Aguad, and his counterpart from the Armed Forces of that country.
According to the audit, the aircraft “were not in flight conditions and their remaining potential was already quite weak, which is why the French Navy had stopped using them.”
However, Aguad bought them “Accompanied with their technical tracking documentation along with a batch of spare parts, test benches, test cases, mission equipment, tools and a flight simulator.”
The definitive transfer price of all the materials -planes and complementary elements- was €12,550,000, and the payment was made in a single bank transfer, while another sum of just over one million euros was paid for the service door-to-door transportation of aircraft.
The audit also reports negative previous technical studies, since, before the purchase, “several preliminary reports from the Argentine Navy that warned about the need to guarantee certain spare parts before finalizing the transaction were not taken into account.”
“The documents indicated that, in the conditions in which the aircraft were offered, they were not in conditions to fly, requiring the execution of a series of works to put them into operation”the Sigen said.
The agency’s report reflected the irregularities committed by the previous management, throughout a 35-page document, referring to the purchases carried out by the Defense portfolio, in the period 2016-2019, under the management of Aguad.
In addition to the five combat aircraft, four multipurpose ocean patrol vessels OPV (Offshore Patrol Vessel) were acquired.
According to the report, the national government assumed all the costs of removal, transportation and parking of the transferred materials. For this, through Private Tender No. 005/17, the door-to-door transport service for the five aircraft plus all the accessories was processed for a total of €1,346,255, totaling the entire acquisition a figure close to €14,000,000.
Meanwhile, prior to the purchase, several preliminary reports from the Argentine Navy that warned about the need to guarantee certain spare parts before finalizing the transaction were not taken into account.
In this sense, the documents indicated that, in the state in which the aircraft were offered, they were not in conditions to fly and required the execution of a series of works to put them into operation.
In addition, these technical evaluations indicated that, prior to the purchase, it was essential to obtain critical elements to ensure the operation of the aircraft, such as the pyrotechnics of the ejection seats and cabin, and the development of an inspection of the accessories. of oxygen.
In this direction, it was suggested to analyze that several of these essential spare parts had English origin, so it was necessary to take into account the impossibility of acquiring them since, since 1982, the United Kingdom has not sold military weapons to our country.
This is how, due to the lack of these instruments, the planes could not be put into operation since their acquisition in 2017.
On the other hand, the report prepared by Sigen explains that “the audit work was carried out in accordance with the Government Internal Audit Standards approved by Resolution No. 152/2002 SGN, developing the same between the months of June and October of the year 2021”.
“Since the Ministry of Defense does not have an area responsible for the consolidation of information referring to purchases linked to International Agreements, nor an information system that allows knowing the universe of contracts made under the modality under analysis, it proceeded to select three acquisitions, whose information was obtained from previous surveys available, taking into account risk factors that were determined in each case”says the text.
Regarding the agreement entered into with the Government of France – ARA Naval Group Contract No. 1/2018 for the acquisition of four Multipurpose Ocean Patrol Vessels – it was verified that the files “did not have all the required documentation that supports adequate decision-making.”
In that sense, “the lack of the disbursement request, the lack of payment receipts and the lack of documentation that proves the effective delivery of the OPVs in ‘Ready to Operate’ condition has been observed.”
In relation to another agreement signed with Israel, for the acquisition, update and technological solution in cyber defense, the audit points out a series of irregularities; among them the “non-existence of a national cyber defense policy, lack of intervention by the Cyber Security Committee; lack of evaluation of national alternatives; insufficient breakdown of prices of the different components acquired; and software licenses not transferred to the Ministry of Defense”.
On the other hand, the report stated that “the inexistence of an area responsible for the consolidation of information referring to purchases from foreign companies or governments and the international agreements that are in force has been evidenced, as well as the lack of a information system that makes it possible to know the universe of contracts that are the object of analysis”.
At this point, he considers “it is necessary that the authorities of the Ministry adopt the recommendations made and/or deepen the actions already undertaken in order to regularize the observations raised and improve management in these aspects.”
Likewise, “it is considered that those responsible for the jurisdiction should evaluate the need to initiate the relevant demarcation of responsibilities, in order to define the possible responsibilities and determine the potential fiscal damage.”
“Finally, and regardless of this, it is recorded that this General Office of the Nation will send this report to the Anti-Corruption Office, for the purposes that it deems appropriate,” the Sigen report points out.
