“I have nothing to hide,” said the Minister of Housing and Territorial Planning (MVOT), Irene Moreira, leaving a meeting with the president Luis Lacalle Pou and the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado, in the Executive Tower. The president had summoned her to provide explanations for the scandal that sparked the news that the chief directly awarded a house for a militant of Town meeting (AC), his political party.
The official said at a press conference that she presented both the documentation and the entire case file and assured: “they understand me perfectly“.
In addition, regarding the awarded apartment, located between New York and Yi streets in Montevideo, explained that the granting was framed within the current regulations. “There is a quota that is my reserve and many times I have not even used it, it is for specific cases. We have cases of Justice that ask us or when diseases arise, we have to concede there,” he specified about the property that the militant received lobbyist Monica Mabel Piriz Ciria.
“The important thing here is that there is a study and an evaluation on whether or not it corresponds, with the requirements of the ministry, to grant. In this case it is a single-parent family, with a female head of the family and a minor in charge,” added Moreira after the meeting with Lacalle Pou, where he clarified that “it is the technicians who say if it corresponds or not“grant the house and that she does not “look” if the beneficiary is from one party or another.
What does the email that sparked the scandal say?
At the end of 2021, the MVOT opened a call to deliver homes with up to three bedrooms there through a raffle, however, the minister would have left the “reserved space” in question. Moreira’s secretary, roel bottarisent an email to the national director of Housing, Jorge Cerettaexplaining that it was in the minister’s interest that one of those two-bedroom apartments in the building be awarded directly to Píriz Ciria.
“Good morning, It is of interest to Minister Dr. Irene Moreira, that the reserved space in the New York esq. yi of two bedrooms is awarded to Mónica Mabel Píriz Ciria and her daughter. His ID number is XXXXX and his phone number is XXXXX. Thank you very much in advance,” said the email accessed by 970 Universal.
Manini Ríos ruled out irregularities in Moreira’s actions
The minister has not yet ruled on the matter, however, her husband, the senator and leader of CA, Guido Manini Riosslipped to the press that the government portfolio has delivered many homes directly from now on several administrations ago.
For the lobbyist senator, the delivery would not be related to the fact that Píriz Ciria is a member of the same party as him and Moreira, but rather that it is due to a profile that fits the requirements. However, the powers of the minister to make a direct award have not yet been clarified.
He broad front (FA) seeks the appearance of Moreira before the Senatein a letter addressed to the Housing and Territorial Planning Commission, and signed by several legislators, they point out that “based on press releases that emerged on the day of the date referring to the delivery of a home directly in a building located in Nueva York and Yi streets, we request that the Minister of Housing and Territorial Planning, Irene Moreira, be summoned to this Commission in order to provide explanations on the subject”.
Source: Ambito
