For the second time, the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office denounces irregularities in the privatization of the Hidrovía days before a definition

The PIA is part of the Attorney General’s Office, and is the body specialized in the investigation of acts of corruption and irregularities within the National Administration.

This is not the first time that the PIA has participated in the process: last year, just the day before the presentation of offershad also denounced irregularities. “They were invited on each occasion to the Interdisciplinary Dialogue Table and to the Control Council meetings and they always responded that they were not going to participate,” said official sources.

On this occasion, the opinion, signed by the prosecutor Sergio Leonardo Rodríguezwas presented to the federal prosecutor Guillermo Marijuana the same day that the Government moved forward with the process and he set a date to the opening of economic offers, which will be on Tuesday, May 19 at 1:00 p.m.

The PIA concluded that the tender for the Trunk Navigable Route (VNT) on the Paraguay and Paraná rivers “repeats errors, such as the wording of the anti-corruption clause; the conditions for an eventual assignment of the contract; the limits on the possibility of challenging and the presentation of certain corporate forms; the limitation on companies submitting offers under the modality of Temporary Business Unions; as well as the obligation imposed on the concessionaire to justify the guarantees on outstanding debts with current creditors”.

“We highlight the distortion of the bid evaluation formula and the multi-stage procedure established, in which objections fall on a possible addressing of the process,” says the opinion.

The tender generated the interest of three companies: the Belgian Jan de Nul y DEME and the Brazilian DTA Engineering; The first two are still standing and the last was disqualified for not having presented the guarantees.

In the official technical evaluation, Jan de Nul —previous dealer and creditor of a state debt— made a wide difference to DEME. In a scenario where there is a minimum rate of $3.40 per net registered ton and where both competitors could have proposed the cheapest possible toll, the balance will end up tilting towards the best technical offer.

The Attorney General’s Office also questioned the public hearings, which would have violated the “right to understandable, accessible and timely information,” as well as the “lack of a complete environmental impact assessment.”

“The conclusions remain the same: sufficient elements emerge to warn serious and obvious irregularities in the drafting of the specifications. Which, logically, will inevitably lead to a procedure and possible adjudication subject to administrative and/or criminal reproaches.”closed the prosecutor.