Javier Milei received a harsh report from the General Audit Office of the Nation that exposes serious irregularities in the Socio-Urban Integration Fund (FISU), the trust that politically managed during the previous administration Juan Grabois, and that left Sebastián Pareja exposed, a key official of La Libertad Avanza and responsible for auditing heritage in the area.
The document, provided by the Minister of Economy, Luis “Toto” Caputoin the last Cabinet meeting, presented a harsh scenario of the management developed in the area in the last two periods of the K administration, when the secretary of Socio-Urban Integration, Fernanda Miñoan activist in the Grabois space, administered million-dollar funds to urbanize vulnerable neighborhoods: in 2023 alone, about 350 billion pesos.
The assessment made by the audit is overwhelming: the 46-page text to which he had access Clarion and is handled with great suspicion in the ruling party, warns that in the management of the trust there was “lack of a comprehensive tracking and monitoring system“, “weaknesses in the contracting processes”, “generalized delays in the deadlines for the execution of works” and “delays in the rendering of accounts”.
Regarding the weaknesses in the contracting processes, the document states that it detected “lack of supporting documentation in the files analyzed”, “Executing Units that do not inform the Trust of the draft specifications and administrative acts prior to the approval of the awarding of the works.
On the other hand, it questions that “it does not appear from the files that the procedures established for the selection of beneficiaries and the controls that must be carried out have been applied” and warns that “there is no evidence in the files about the selection criteria or assignment of works to work cooperatives or associative groups of the popular economy.”
“Works were assigned to cooperatives that did not reliably demonstrate a background of specialty and suitability for the fulfillment of the required service – due to their recent constitution – contrary to what was established” and reports on “project awards to entities whose geographical location is within considerable distances from the works. On this point, a LN+ report by journalist Luis Gasulla had already denounced discretion in granting works to cooperatives located in other provinces where they had to carry out the work.
He also found “problems in the acquisition of real estate.”
As an example, out of a universe of 65 cooperatives, SIGEN maintains that “ten were registered in an area related to construction in the same year or after the year in which a project was awarded.”
In that sense, also to size the discovery, the organization mentions the “Cooperative for Provision, Transformation, Industrialization, Consumption, and Peasant Marketing,” which received $598,759,091 and was registered under the heading “candy and jams, meats and vegetables.” ”.
Strictly speaking, the Government admits that it is similar to what was found in a good part of the public administration and that it resulted in criminal complaints. But what is new about the FISU is that it is an area that until now had not been explored, at least with the depth that, as Clarín anticipated weeks ago, a part of the ruling party understood it should be carried out. “They are lying to Javier (Milei) and Karina. At the FISU they made a disaster, it is incredible that nothing was reported,” they warned.
On the contrary, the owner of the area, Sebastian Parejaa man who works for the general secretary of the Presidency, Karina Milei, In the Buenos Aires assembly of La Libertad Avanza, he had claimed the administration of the FISU from the people of Grabois, and without the time to analyze what he had inherited, he dared to say that “in each congress that is presented , the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) promotes as an example the work done in that Secretariat”. “If it was not the only Secretariat that functioned during Alberto Fernández’s government, it hits home,” he said in February.
Days ago, in a note with Radio Rivadavia, he reaffirmed it again when talking about the survey that, he said, he commissioned after taking office: “I’m not finding anything (to report). From the documentation of the secretariat in which I am there, there is no evidence that they have allocated money to a work that is not there or that disappeared,” he assured.
For the sector of the Government that questioned Pareja, it was difficult to accept that he had not detected “anything”, when Two cases for unfinished works were already being processed in court, in Mar del Plata and in Luján. In one, even the attorney general of Mar del Plata, Juan Manuel Pettigiani, denounced Grabois for “embezzlement of public funds,” among other crimes.
In the midst of this, as Clarín revealed, Couple also did not allow entry to two “auditor” lawyers which, with the endorsement of Milei and Caputo, Pettovello sent to analyze FISU documentation. The argument that the representatives of Capital Humano received was curious, taking into account that it is the same political space: “If they want to enter, they have to present a power of attorney from the President or the minister. (Caputo)”.
Another piece of information that reinforces suspicions about Pareja’s passivity: the SIGEN report was prepared in less than the 60 days granted by article 3 of decree 215/2024 that Milei signed to deactivate the trusts and that contemplated an audit of each one.
All this revived the internal discussion in the Government. It is an issue that, as this newspaper reported, was already dividing waters between the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello, and Couple. Now, Caputo joined his Cabinet colleague and considered it “intolerable” and “inadmissible”According to what this newspaper was able to reconstruct, the official who is currently under his orbit – the transfer was completed in April – had not detected anomalies. “The report is lapidary“, he would have said, according to interlocutors present at the Cabinet meeting.
Although Caputo avoided disqualifications towards Pareja, Clarín learned that questions about his management were raised at the summit. From the Treasury Palace they avoided confirming or denying the fact, but in relation to the FISU and the harsh report from the SIGEN They indicated that “the steps to follow are being evaluated”.
At Casa Rosada they went a little further and put Pareja in their sights, despite the good bond he had up until now with Karina Milei. “We are going to be guided by the result of the audit“, they indicated from the presidential environment. “We are going to do what is appropriate, that is what the SIGEN audit report is for,” they expanded. For now, they would move forward with the presentation of a criminal complaint against the previous administration.
