The Oversight Committee report indicates that the main channel for mobilizing resources was the Civil Protection, Prevention and Disaster Mitigation Fund (Fopromid) “whose mechanisms are highly discretionary”.
The Legislative Assembly’s special committee investigating the placement of securities and loans in the national and international markets of the Legislative Assembly received representatives of the Emergency, Recovery and Economic Reconstruction Fund’s Citizen Monitoring and Oversight Committee on Monday to review the third report of the results on the use of funds intended to address the crisis caused by COVID-19.
How has the government used these emergency funds?
The Oversight Committee reported that the main channel for the movement of money during the emergency was the Disaster Protection, Prevention and Reduction Fund (Fopromid), which received $ 607.1 million, “whose mechanisms are highly discretionary,” said representatives. from the Commission. . This means that Fopromid does not apply the Law on Public Administration Acquisitions and Contracts (LACAP) when dealing with funds.
In addition, they indicated that at least $ 107 million of the money that should have been set aside for the emergency was used for various purposes.
SEE: Deputies ask the Minister of Agriculture who makes purchases with money from Fopromid with a value higher than indicated in the income
After learning of this information, the Committee Chair, Deputy René Portillo Cuadra (ARENA), expressed concern: “We are very concerned that the government has urged the Assembly to approve funds for the Covid, but it money did not go to that destination. . Another pertinent point is that the committee has been denied information, this is repeatedly a challenge to transparency, we hope this situation improves so that people know where their money is ”.
The committee coordinators, Wilson Sandoval and Ricardo Castaneda, reported that some of the funds obtained had been allocated to items not directly related to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as these had been allocated: $ 55 for Fomilenio II and $ 52 for veterans and ex-combatants, which represents 10.8% of the $ 705 million that comes from external debt.
According to the commission, until February 2 this year, the availability of funds according to the mechanism enshrined in Legislative Assembly Decree 608 is $ 999.3 million, of which 70.5% is again a debt contributed by JICA, Bank World, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where the remaining 29.5% comes from spending cuts, general state liabilities.
They pointed out that, contrary to what is stipulated in Legislative Decree 608, Fopromid does not apply LACAP in its management and allows transfers between different institutions without the intervention of the Assembly.
One of the conclusions of the representatives of the monitoring committee is that the decisions for the management of the funds were not taken by the board of directors of the emergency fund, and in addition that unforeseen availabilities were generated by adjustments to the current budget, apart from the the fact that there were funds allocated to various destinations to deal with the pandemic.
They point out that Fopromid was the primary destination of the funds and that the funds allocated by the Assembly were reduced by an executive decision, and the majority of the funds were allocated through the regular budget and not an extraordinary one.
“They are looking for any mechanism in which they cannot be held responsible”
FMLN deputy Yanci Urbina said the report makes it clear that the government has not adhered to the fund management mechanism enshrined in Law Decree 608. “It did not comply with the law regarding Decree 608 and used a different mechanism that was contrary to what had been established and, as it was contrary, the basic principle of transparency, accountability and presentation of an extraordinary budget for an extraordinary situation. ”He thought.
Congressman Marta Evelyn Batres, from ARENA, said when the decree was passed, they gave a legal mandate to the oversight committee to make the use of funds earmarked for the pandemic transparent. According to him, the denial of transparency about the means used is reportable.
“They are looking for any mechanism in which they cannot be held responsible. When we see that $ 607 million has practically been diverted to Fopromid just to not go through a procurement and contract law, to manage them, the way they managed them, and I would go on to say, and in a responsible way, who have used these funds for an electoral political campaign that would be completely serious and unacceptable, ”said Deputy Batres.
For his part, PDC Deputy Rodolfo Parker stated that the government was not complying with the mechanism of Decree 608. He said the main problem for the Assembly, which is the health aspect of the emergency, was that only $ 20 million was detected going for Health and $ 30 million for “ a hospital that doesn’t exist, in terms of at least the infrastructure that only made the facade and we also note that there are no minutes about the agreements of the board of directors, yes we. We are very concerned as I say that it is not something that surprises us, but it should be of great importance to the country, ”he said.