Officials and councilors of Bariloche They got tangled in a semantic debate for almost two hours to conclude that the audit of the municipality’s finances which Mayor Walter Cortés and his team spoke about before taking office is not ongoing and is an “analysis” of the situation current with the help of a former Cordoba minister linked to former governor José Manuel De la Sota.
The Secretary of the Treasury, Carina Ondarçuhu, and the Chief of Staff, Héctor Leguizamón Pondal, attended the Deliberative Council today before the call of councilors from JSRN, Primero Río Negro and Including Bariloche who this week presented a request for reports to find out what happened to the promised audit.
Cortés officials cleared up doubts and clarified that There is no audit in progress but it “voluntarily” collaborates In the analysis of the state of the situation, the consultant and former minister from Córdoba Ángel Mario Electorwho was head of the Treasury in the De la Sota governorate and former president of the Mint for 11 months, according to the local Chief of Staff.
Leguizamón Pondal spoke of a personal link with the Córdoba consultant and stated that The municipality does not pay fees nor does it have a contract for its management. He even indicated that I only “paid for some dinners out of my pocket” for him to stay a few more days since he was on vacation in Bariloche and asked for advice.
The Chief of Staff of Bariloche and the Secretary of the Treasury went to the Council to explain that technically an audit is not carried out in the municipality. Photo: Marcelo Martinez
“The municipality did not pay a single peso. I took advantage of the fact that I know them, they were visiting here” said Leguizamón Pondal when justifying the collaboration of the Córdoba consultant and clarified: “We are doing everything with good offices and with people we know”.
The Chief of Staff clarified that Technically, an “audit” of the municipal state is not carried out Instead, an analysis and recount of information is carried out based on official public data and the status of budgets and executed items.
Ondarçuhu denied to the councilors that she had ever mentioned that an “external audit” was being carried out, which is why the councilor Natalia Almonacid (JSRN) read the expressions of the officials in Council committees and also public statements in which they referred to the existence of an audit. “I understand that now it is a preliminary report with people who voluntarily come to give a hand, who are friends of political management“, he noted and asked that it be recorded in the minutes after listening to the officials’ reasons.
Also Facundo Villalba (Primero Río Negro) and other opponents pointed out in this discussion whether there was an audit or not. Furthermore, the councilor questioned – as he did in the budget debate – the difference between the real debt with suppliers that the Executive presented for 3,400 million pesos and the 16,000 million pesos that the mayor publicly denounced at the beginning of January. That is why he insisted on the need to have concrete information.
In response to the specific question from Councilor Julieta Wallace of deadlines to have information on the financial situationAfter the data analysis that is currently being carried out, the Chief of Staff said that will be there for the opening of legislative sessions when Mayor Cortés must give his first speech, in the first days of March.