The minister of Housing and Territorial Planning (MVOT), Irene Moreiradefended the awarding of a house without lottery to a militant of Open Town Hall (CA) and maintained that he has the support of the president Luis Lacalle Pou, although in the white ranks the new scandal within the government caused discomfort. The Broad Front will summon her to Parliament to give explanations.
The government of the Multicolor Coalition does not seem to have a month of tranquility. With the recent social security reform voted and promulgated after moments of extreme internal crisis, it seemed that, for a few weeks, there would be no major conflicts on the horizon. This lasted just a few days, until it was learned that the owner of the MVOT delivered a home directly without a lottery to Monica Mabel Piriz Ciriaa lobbyist militant.
The information caused concern in the government and prompted President Luis Lacalle Pou to immediately summon her to the Executive Tower to find out first-hand about the situation, despite the fact that the decision was supported by the leader of the sector —and Moreira’s husband—, Guido Manini Riosfor being “adjusted to the procedures”.
“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 awarded property, located between streets NY and yi in Montevideo, whose granting would have been framed within the current regulations.
“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 she clarified that “it is the technicians who say whether or not it is appropriate” to grant the house and that she does not “look” if the beneficiary is from one party or another.
However, the fact caused discomfort in the National Partywhere they understood that the official had delivered a new opportunity on a platter for the broad front attack the government. In fact, the opposition decided to call her to the Senate Housing Commission to “provide explanations on the subject”, while the powers of the minister to make a direct award have not yet been clarified.
The official defense of the Ministry of Housing
Just like Manini Ríos did, from the MVOT they issued a official statement in which they indicated that the adjudication “adjusts to the current legal, evaluation and regulatory process established in the ‘Tenders for assets’ program directed by the National Housing Directorate.”
“The aforementioned procedure was carried out normally in a period of approximately six months (time required for the analysis and study of the case), showing that the citizen complies with the requirements requested in the current legal framework according to the report made by our technicians”, it is added.
In addition to accounting for the family structure of the beneficiary, the ministry points out that the income also agrees with what is contemplated by the program; and insists that it is the “custom” of the portfolio to “reserve some unit of each housing complex to address situations of socioeconomic precariousness of Uruguayan families.” “The MVOT in no way uses political considerations when it comes to fulfilling its functions and mandates in terms of its mission”the statement ended.
Resignation of an official and suspicions
The Moreira scandal had a notice on the door with the resignation of the retired colonel gabriel bathrobe in his position as CEO of Secretary. Although in the resignation letter he spoke of personal reasons, MVOT sources said that he had “discrepancies” with the minister’s management that led to him recently not feeling comfortable in the tasks.
That this happened hours before the controversial delivery was known, makes all eyes fall on the apparent coincidence. For her part, Moreira said that the resignation “absolutely” was not related to the awarding of the house to the lobbyist militant, and pointed out that last week, she was in Cologne “Because of a housing meeting”, Albornoz had already told him that they were “halfway there and that he had completed his stage”, therefore, he understood that he had to “leave the ministry”.
Source: Ambito
