The controversy surrounding the government’s reservation regarding the agreement with HIF Global for one of the largest investments in the history of Uruguay for the construction of a green hydrogen plant does not end and the Sustainable Uruguay Movement (Movus) will return to court to claim for the failure to comply with the request for information to Executive power.
Two months ago, the judge Pablo Gandini, resolved that the Executive power provide the information requested by Movus. In this way, “it condemns the Executive Branch to provide all the environmental information contained in the memorandum of understanding and its annex signed between the Eastern Republic of Uruguay and the HIF Uruguay Company on February 28, 2024,” the ruling states.
However, once the information was delivered, controversies arose around its compliance. According to Movus spokesperson Raúl Viñas, the specifications were not what the association had expected, since most of the information was covered by black lines, while the latest update of the agreement was not delivered.
“Despite the court ruling, the Executive power did not provide the information in the memorandum signed with HIF Global on February 28 or its Annex,” its spokesperson posted on social media.
Faced with this, the association decided to present two documents to the court on Tuesday. The first of them consists of informing Gandini that the sentence was not complied with, while the second is for the court to support the request for economic sanctions against the government for each day that the delivery of information is not complied with, according to the weekly Búsqueda.
Government secrecy sparks political criticism
Earlier this year, the political arc entered into debate regarding the confidentiality of the memorandum signed between the Executive power and HIF Global. The Colorado deputy, Ope Pasquet, He was one of the critics on the matter. “I don’t know the memorandum, nobody knows it, except the members of the government,” he complained.
In this regard, he recalled other government agreements with companies where little was known about their details. “It is good for the Uruguay that these possibilities exist, but we must avoid this giving rise to another contract negotiated in secret as has happened so many times in recent years such as the contract of Mountains of the Plata either UPM 2″, he questioned.
“I think it is not good that these important issues are kept secret. Many times these contracts impose obligations on the country that last for many years and it is not good that all this is ignored by public opinion and the Parliament“, he added.
Faced with this, the mayor of Paysandú, Nicholas Oliveradefended the agreement and assured that “there was nothing to hide” and that what could not be shown was the feasibility study carried out by the company, the document that was delivered this week with most of its information hidden. “If the company invested in taking a step further based on that economic feasibility, making the company’s numbers honest does not seem sensible,” he commented then.
Source: Ambito
