The former president of Antel and current candidate for the presidency of Uruguay for him Colorado Party, Gabriel Gurméndezquestioned the ruling of the Economic Crimes Prosecutor’s Office that filed the case for alleged irregularities in the construction of the Antel Arena; and considered that the evidence was weighted “unidirectionally.”
The decision of the Economic Crimes Prosecutor, Alejandro Machado, to file the complaint made by the board of directors of the state telephone company for the construction of the Antel Arena in Montevideo generated strong repercussions, both among the ranks of the Wide Front – celebrating the judicial decision – and the government, in rejection.
In that sense, one of those who criticized the file was Gurméndez, who was in charge of the public company at the time of making the complaint, which was presented on the basis of two audits and a report prepared by the Transparency and Public Ethics Board (Jutep).
For the Colorado pre-candidate, and beyond the opinion of the prosecutor, there was “use and abuse” of public money in a work that, he considered, “was not necessary” to Antel. “It is about the irresponsible management of people’s money, of people’s pockets,” he said during a visit to the department of Leap, within the framework of the electoral campaign, and added: “We value that the facts and evidence have been weighed in a way that goes unidirectionally to the file of the case.”
Likewise, Gurméndez expressed concern about Machado’s ruling since, according to him, it could “open the way” so that in the future “anything can be done” with public money.
“We are going to work seriously and politically so that people’s money is respected, so that people’s money is handled with transparency, that there is no setback, that we do not relive these issues of Antel Arena, The problems of Ancap with its 800 million dollars, the 80 million dollars of Pluna that now, slowly, they hit us again,” he said.
Meanwhile, for the Economic Crimes prosecutor, no crimes were found regarding the construction of the Antel Arena.
The government is considering appealing the court decision
Meanwhile, the government is considering appealing the court ruling that implies shelving the case on Antel Arena against the mayor of Montevideo, Carolina Cosse, considering that some issues remained unclarified in the construction of the stadium.
In statements to the press, among which was Ambit, President Luis Lacalle Pou confirmed that he maintained communication with the president of Antel, Annabela Suburú, to move forward in that direction. This is how the intention of the Executive to advance with this appeal under the idea that “explanations remain” in this regard, beyond Cosse’s statements that spoke of “a political operation.”
In this framework, the legal team of Antel analyzes the ruling of the Economic Crimes prosecutor, who considered that there were no crimes in the construction of the stadium, although he did admit “administrative sloppiness.”
According to the 88-page opinion, Machado ruled out irregularities for the price of the work, whose final cost was 119 million dollars, when it was estimated to be 40 million, specifying that this figure covered the first stage of the project.
Source: Ambito
