Members of the Chamber of Accounts were decisive among those investigated for administrative corruption, after the Public Ministry claimed that they modified audits to encourage former officials to cover fraudulent actions against the treasury.
A statement from the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic states that his prosecutors have detected “indications that compromise the criminal responsibility of the Chamber of Accounts in administrative corruption offenses, which is why it decided to extend the investigations it initiated against its current authorities. due to the obstruction of justice. members “.
The statement added that the investigations against the Chamber of Accounts, led by Hugo Francisco Álvarez Pérez, “indicate the commission of crimes such as criminal association, forgery of documents, coalition of officials, complicity in state fraud and money laundering.”
It states that the investigations’ established that several audits had been modified in the Chamber of Accounts for the benefit of former officials of the official agencies under review.
The investigations led by the General Directorate of Persecution of the Public Ministry and the Special Prosecutor for the Persecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), led by Judges Yeni Berenice Reynoso and Wilson Camacho, cover all members of the Chamber of Accounts.
Also, officials from other areas of the institution overseeing the use of public funds, such as legal advice and the audit department.
interrogation
In mid-December, the prosecutor’s office began questioning the president of the Chamber of Accounts, Hugo Álvarez Pérez, and the secretary, Carlos Noé Tejada Díaz, as part of an investigation against members of the state supervisory body “for obstructing justice by preventing investigations into corruption in state institutions ”.
“Officials were called to testify about the information the Public Ministry has regarding the irregular manipulation by members of the Chamber of Accounts, in order to prevent the provision of reports necessary for the conduct of investigations into administrative corruption, money laundering and related crimes.” , the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement since then.
At Pepca, with the support of the General Directorate of Persecution of the Public Ministry, she is immersed in multiple investigations into complaints and complaints about irregularities in various public administration institutions. Prosecutors have sent repeated communications requesting information from the Chamber of Accounts. However, its members responded evasively, “the Public Ministry also having evidence that they were engaged in irregular actions, in order to prevent the provision of reports necessary for the conduct of investigations,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
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Planned sanctions
“Imprisonment shall be imposed on: civil servants, agents or delegates of the Government, regardless of their rank and the class to which they belong, who request or order, request or order the action or use of public force, to prevent the execution of a law, receive a contribution legal, the execution of a court order or a provision or any other provision issued by the legitimate authority ”, establishes article 188 of the Criminal Code.